September 18th Nohmi v Gonzalez - Hiyama again

In another tight game Tigers once again had their daida no kamisama to thank for the victory coupled with some fine pitching by Nohmi. Giants pitcher Gonzalez once again proved to be a difficult hurdle for the Tigers batters to overcome however Hiyama's professionalism was the difference between the sides. Kanemoto hit a vital two base and looked very happy after the game - he had been able to contribute. It seems that he requested Mayumi to remove him from the lineup after the BayStars game as his shoulder was not holding up. If this is true it certainly was a noble gesture. Scores

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

Starting lineups

Giants
1. Sakamoto (Short)
2. Matsumoto (Centre)
3. Ogasawara (First)
4. Ramirez (Left)
5. Abe (Catcher)
6. Yano (Right)
7. Edgar (Second)
8. Wakiya (Third)
9. Gonzalez (Pitcher)

Tigers
1. Murton (Left)
2. Hirano (Second)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Arai (Third)
5. Brazell (First)
6. Johjima (Catcher)
7. Lin (Right)
8. Shunsuke Fujikawa (Centre)
9. Nohmi (Pitcher)

A must win game for both sides, this was a tight hard fought contest. Giants were not going to give in and Tigers needed to prove themselves contenders. As it was it would all come down to one hit. Nohmi started shakely and in fact his early innings were a bit of a struggle with runners on. He started by striking out Sakamoto but walked Matsumoto. Ramirez hit to short - it was actually an error by Toritani who failed to take and whose glove was rather loose this game - runners on first and second with two outs. Abe struck out looking to end the innings. Tigers first started with a Murton hit which put him No. 1 in the list of Tigers hits. He was forced out by Hirano who had a dreadful game with the bat being asked to bunt again and again. None of the bunts worked but Mayumi persisted with the useless tactic despite all evidence that it was failing. Toritani grounded out to first taking Hirano to second but Arai also grounded out. Edgar drew a one out walk in Giants second but then Wakiya hit into a double play to end the innings. Tigers second was straightforwardly quiet with the batters falling in order. In Giants third Sakamoto hit and was bunted to second by Matsumoto. Nohmi then struck out Ogasawara to end the innings. Shunsuke Fujikawa hit to right in Tigers third but Nohmi failed with his three bunt attempts and was out. Neither Murton or Hirano did anything and the innings was over.

Ramirez started Giants fourth with a fly out but then Abe hit to right. Yano followed this up with a hit setting up runners on first and second. Edgar struck out swinging and then Wakiya flew out. Giants despite trying hard hadn't advanced a runner beyond second. Neither had Tigers and their fourth saw two strikeouts and a fly out. Giants fifth was quiet and was Nohmi's first innings without runners on. Johjima walked in Tigers fifth but was forced out by Lin's ground out. Lin stole second as Shunsuke Fujikawa struck out but with Nohmi the next batter a score was unlikely and so it proved. Nohmi grounded out to end the innings. Abe hit with two out in Giants sixth but Yano swung wildly and flew out to end that innings. Tigers sixth saw a big wasted chance. Murton hit to left. Hirano was ordered to bunt and eventually managed a little one which bounced just in front of the plate. Abe threw poorly to second but Edgar was just able to snag the ball for the force out. He couldn't make the throw though and Hirano was safe. Toritani hit into right setting up runners on first and third with one out. A sacrfice fly or double play beckoned. Arai faced Gonzalez and with two strikes swung and just fouled the ball, surviving. He worked a walk to load the bases. Brazell didn't do so well and hit weakly to Gonzalez who threw to home for the first out and then Abe threw to first for the double play - end of innings.

Giants seventh and the first two batters were down. Gonzalez was next and stretched and swung at his second pitch. A lucky hit was the result which left Nohmi facing Sakamoto. A long battle followed in which Sakamoto just hit foul beyond the left foul pole. Before popping one up for left to take. Toritani went for it as well and there was the danger of a collision but Toritani just stopped in time and Murton was able to make the take - end of innings. Johjima started Tigers first by flying out and this brought up Kanemoto (pinch hitter). He took some balls before hitting into right centre - the ball just evading Matsumoto. Kanemoto made second and was pinch run for by Uemoto. Shunsuke Fujikawa followed and hit to centre where Matsumoto took a fine catch - Uemoto tagged up and made third safely. Next was Hiyama (pinch hitter) his first pitch was dispatched neatly into right field for a hit. Uemoto was home 1-0 Tigers, runner on first. This was the end of Gonzalez who had actually thrown less pitches than Nohmi but had given up one run. Kubo took the mound and faced Murton but before Murton could do anything Mayumi signalled the steal. Another stupid call as Asai (pinch running for Hiyama) was tagged out and the innings was over. Kubota, of course, pitched Giants eighth. He was excellent striking out first Matsumoto and then Ogasawara. The old Kubota would have tried for a third strike out. The current Kubota doesn't care as long as he gets the out and Ramirez was induced to ground out to first to end the innings. Superb pitching at a vital point in the game. Tigers eighth was another wasted opportunity as Murton led off with a two base hit, the ball bouncing and hitting the head of third before going into centre. Hirano bunted but this time Kubo, the pitcher threw to third for the force out with Hirano safe on first. Toritani hit to right setting up runners on first and third. Arai struck out and Toritani was able to steal second but Brazell also struck out having survived a earlier miss by the umpire. His swing was called foul when replays showed he missed the ball. Giants ninth and Kyuji Fujikawa took the mound. Abe hit to centre and was pinch run for by Suzuki. Then Yano battled Kyuji for a while before hitting wildly into left. The ball spilled from Toritani's glove for a rather lucky hit - runners on first and second. Furuya (pinch hitter) followed and he just past second where Hirano made a magnificent dive to take the ball and throw to second. Toritani threw to first for a double play with Suzuki on third - the first time a Giants runner had reached third in the game. Ato hittori - Wakiya, the next batter fought hard before striking out swinging to end the game. Tigers victory.

This was a hard fought victory but Tigers had had the edge. They need to continue and win the next two games to build their chances. Murton had three hits and became Tigers all time leader in hits. The Murton counter now stands at 6. He is almost certain to exceed 200 hits in his first season in Japan. Kyuji Fujikawa picked up his 26th save but the heros of the game were Hiyama and Nohmi who had worked very hard.

Mayumi was pretty brutal this game - he handled the pitching pretty straightforwardly but Hirano's three bunts (two with no outs and a man on second! Come on!) were inexplicable. One call that I feel he got right was having Asai attempt to steal with two outs in the seventh. Murton is probably the best hitter in the Central League, and his average with runners in scoring position is even higher than his base average. It was worth the risk of having Asai thrown out to try for a man in scoring position for him to drive in - also, even though Asai got thrown out, that meant the next inning started off with Murton, the leadoff batter, giving the Tigers the best chance to manufacture a run in the next inning. A calculated gamble that didn't work out, but given the situation it was still the correct call.

I beg to differ here - Asai doesn't have the speed and if Mayumi can think this tactic out so can the Giants. This is exactly what happened - they were ready. The out with one run lets the pitching team off the hook. Much better to have Murton hit and maybe get a home run or put the runner on third..