September 11th Nohmi v Glynn - Nohmi wins again

Nohmi has reached 10 wins in a season for the first time ever in his career. He is also the first Tigers pitcher to do so this season. Once again he pitched superbly which was just as well as Glynn was almost as good. If there was a problem it was that Nohmi gave up too many extra base hits (4 out of 5) but with more work has the potential to become the Tigers next 20 game winner (not this season though). Carp lost and Swallows also lost making the evening all the Tigers could desire. There is now a 0.5 gap between Tigers and Swallows and a game difference with the Carp. Scores

          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
BayStars  0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 5 0
Tigers    0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 5 1

Starting lineups

BayStars
1. Yamasaki (Third)
2. Nishi (Second)
3. Uchikawa (Left)
4. Johnson (First)
5. Yoshimura (Right)
6. Kinjoh (Centre)
7. Fujita (Centre)
8. Takeyama (Catcher)
9. Glynn (Pitcher)

Tigers
1. Akahoshi (Centre)
2. Hirano (Second)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Arai (Third)
6. Katsuragi (First)
7. Asai (Right)
8. Kanoh (Catcher)
9. Nohmi (Pitcher)

Nohmi started with a strike out. Nishi grounded out but then the first of BayStars two base hits came, to Uchikawa. However, Nohmi finished the innings superbly, striking out Johnson looking. Tigers first was quiet as Glynn retired the batters in order. In BayStars second Kinjoh managed a one out two base hit. However, Fujita lined out to Hirano who was able to catch Kinjoh off base to end the innings. A nice piece of luck for the Tigers. Kanemoto led off Tigers second with a solo home run to centre 1-0 Tigers. The next two batters fell which brought up Asai and Glynn then made another mistake and Asai hit nicely to left for the second home run of the innings 2-0 Tigers. Glynn then walked Kanoh to get at Nohmi who duly flew out to end the innings. Could Nohmi protect the lead? He got the first two outs in BayStars third easily enough but then Yamasaki hit. However, Nishi grounded out and the innings was over. Tigers third brought up the top of the order but they were all out as Glynn was back in control.

In BayStars fourth Nohmi walked Johnson with one out but then got a double play from Yoshimura to get out of the innings. Tigers fourth was quiet, Kanemoto being unable to repeat his feat of the second innings. BayStars fifth was also quiet with Nohmi retiring the batters 1-2-3. In Tigers fifth Kanoh hit to left. He was bunted to second by Nohmi but then Akahoshi grounded out to end the innings. Nohmi ran into trouble in BayStars sixth. With two out Nishi hit to left for a nice two base. This brought up Uchikawa who hit his second two base of the game, this one to right centre 2-1 Tigers, runner on second. Johnson though grounded out and the Tigers preserved their slim lead. Tigers sixth saw Kanemoto hit but nothing came of this.

Nohmi returned to pitch for BayStars seventh. Given that he had given up a run in the last innings was this too much? As it turned out, no but he did have to work hard. He wasn't helped by the error by Arai with one out which allowed Kinjoh on base. Arai has been superb at third, much better than he was with Carp but the occasional error will occur. With two out Nohmi walked Takeyama but then the pinch hitter, Kuwahara struck out to end the innings. Having used a pinch hitter Tashiro had to go with a new pitcher and this was Sanada. He was proficient retiring all three batters he faced. For BayStars eighth Mayumi's approach was more conventional. Nohmi did not return having pitched seven excellent innings and Atchison took the mound in a more familiar position for him. He retired all three batters he faced striking out two of them. For Tigers eighth, Kosuke Katoh replaced Sanada and after striking out the first two batters he faced walked Hirano. Toritani hit nicely and Tigers had runners on first and third. Kanemoto though struck out to end the innings. BayStars ninth was pitched by Fujikawa who retired the three batters he faced in order. End of innings and Tigers victory.

A tight game, the BayStars hadn't been overwhelmed and had put up a hard fight but hadn't been able to overcome the Tigers pitching. Fujikawa picked up his 20th save and it was nice to see Kanemoto hitting again. Tigers had held onto the slender lead very nicely and picked up an important victory.

Boy was I wrong about Nohmi. I was shocked when they gave him another chance this year, but in the second half of the season he has definitely been our ace. Anyway, glad they kept giving him chances after all! This doesn't mean I want them to give Fukuhara any more chances, haha.