Dome of Doom - July 5, 2013

As you know, Yokohama has 13 wins to 24 losses at home so far this season for a .351 winning percentage. But there's a place where they've done worse - Tokyo Dome, where they have a .000 winning percentage - for two seasons. One has to go back to October of 2011 to find the last time that the BayStars have won a game at Tokyo Dome. With the 7-12 loss this evening, Yokohama has dropped 12 games in a row at the Big Egg (with a tie back in May of 2012). Counting third party stadiums where the Giants have hosted the BayStars, it's 16 losses in a row with another tie thrown into the mix. Since 2012, Yokohama is 5 and 25 against the Giants, batting .167, scoring 103 runs to allowing 202.

It didn't take long for new foreign pitcher Tim Corcoran to catch ippatsu-byo. In his ichi-gun debut, Corcoran faced 17 batters over 3 innings, allowing 4 runs on 8 hits, two of them home runs in the 3rd inning, while walking 2 in the first inning, one of them scoring.

The second of the home runs hit against Corcoran was off the bat of Yoshinobu Takahashi, Takahashi's first homer of the year. You may recall that he also got his first hit of the season against Yokohama back on April 4, his 11th at bat of the season, a triple to center field. That gives Yoshinobu a triple and home run as his only two hits in three games against Yokohama this season.

Kenjiro Tanaka took over on the mound for Yokohama in the 4th inning and added fuel to the flames. Getting two fly outs after a leadoff single by Giants' starting pitcher Tetsuya Utsumi, it looked like he might get out of the inning. But it wasn't to be. A single and walk later the bases were loaded and former BayStar slugger Shuichi Murata was as the plate. In 2012, Murata hit .302 with 5 of his 12 home runs against his former team mates. He sent Tanaka's 6th pitch over Nyjer Morgan's head in center, the ball bouncing off the empty wooden bleachers under the scoreboard in straight away center. The grand slam home run puts the Giants up by a commanding 8-1 score.

Yokohama got one run back in the top of the 5th thanks to a 2-out double by Noriharu Yamazaki then a rushed bad throw by first baseman Yoshihito Ishii trying to get the speedy Morgan coming up the line, but throwing the ball too far behind the covering Utsumi. While catcher Ken Katoh went up the first base side to get the ball, Yamazaki cruised home where nobody was covering. 2-8 isn't so bad. Things can still be turned around.

But now. As if 3 home runs by the Giants through the first 4 innings weren't enough, back to back home runs by Yoshiyuki Kamei (his second of the game) and Hayato Sakamoto added 3 runs and pretty much put the game out of reach at 11-2.

Norihiro Nakamura hit a solo home run to start off the top of the 6th. The Giants answered that with a run in the bottom half, making the score through 6 complete 3-12.

Shinji Ohhara and Shigeru Kaga threw the final two innings perfectly agains the Giants. While Yokohama added 2 more runs in the top of the 7th and a 2-run home run to start off the top of the 9th by Yamazaki, it wasn't enough. Yokohama fell once again at Tokyo Dome 7-12.