April 3rd Sugiyama v Lewis - The first loss

For the Tigers the big news is the loss of Jeff Williams to pain in his left shoulder. He has been placed on the disabled list and will be out of action for at least 10 days. This is a problem with the first series against the Giants starting today and Williams proven record against them. Egusa and Watanabe will be used in relief though I would like to see more of Abe rather than Egusa. The former pitched well yesterday - more of that below. Kanemoto hit again and now needs four more hits to reach 2000. Tigers lost their first match of the season bringing a five game winning streak to an end. Line scores

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

Starting line ups

1. Akahoshi (Centre)
2. Hirano (Second)
3. Arai (First)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Imaoka (Third)
6. Toritani (Short)
7. Ford (Right)
8. Noguchi (Catcher)
9. Sugiyama (Pitcher)

Carp
1. Amaya (Centre)
2. Ishihara (Catcher)
3. Alex (Right)
4. Kurihara (First)
5. Maeda (Left)
6. Seabol (Third)
7. Soyogi (Short)
8. Higashide (Second)
9. Lewis (Pitcher)

Tigers started well. Akahoshi hit a two base hit was able to advance to third on a Maeda error. Arai hit a ground out which Lewis failed to hold and reached first safely 1-0 Tigers. Kanemoto walked but Imaoka grounded into a double play ending the innings. Incidently, his performance in this game has caused some concern but not too much yet. Tigers next hit came from Toritani in the second but nothing came of this and by the end of the innings the score was still 1-0. Kurihara had a lead off two base hit in the bottom of the second but none of his compatriots were able to make anything of it.

And so to the third, Akahoshi had his second hit of the game and then stole second. He was bunted to third by Hirano but Arai struck out. However, Kanemoto was up next and stroked a single to centre 2-0 Tigers. Imaoka flew out to end the innings. At this point it looked very bright for the Tigers, a two run lead and everything was under control. Unfortunately, it was not to remain that way as Sugiyama began to lose control of his straight balls. In the bottom of the third Higashide hit and was bunted to second by Lewis. He reached third on an Amaya ground out which left one out to get. The next batter was Ishihara who hit to left and drove in Higashide 2-1 Tigers. Alex was next but he grounded out to end the innings. In the top of the fourth Toritani walked and tried to steal second but was thrown out. The game moved steadily on with either a Carp or Tigers batter hitting but no one else doing anything until the fifth.

Sugiyama faced Higashide who had his second hit of the game. Lewis once again bunted him to second and then Amaya hit. Runners on first and third with one out. Up was Ishihara who hit a two base which neatly bisected Kanemoto and Akahoshi, 3-2 Carp with a runner on second and one out. Alex grounded out then Sugiyama threw a wild pitch and Ishihara advanced to third. Kurihara walked and Sugiyama was facing Maeda who hit 4-2 Carp. Seabol grounded out to end the innings.

The game went into a decline after that as a succession of Carp relief pitchers kept the Tigers in check. Throughout the sixth to the ninth the Tigers batters generated one hit (from Noguchi). Carp didn't do much better, Soyogi had a two base hit off Sugiyama in the sixth but the seventh and eighth were pitched by Abe. He started by walking Ishihara but then settled down and retired everyone else he faced in a nice exhibtion of pitching.

It was a pity that the winning streak had come to an end but it was bound to happen. Abe did well on his first appearance and Kanemoto knocked in another run. Sugiyama hadn't done so well but it was his first start. However, Kubo, the pitching coach indicated that he would not be so tolerant if Sugiyama had trouble with his straight ball again. Imaoka has made a bumpy start to the season but not enough to think about a trip to ni-gun and they are hoping he will improve.



[Edited by: Christopher on Apr 4, 2008 9:06 PM] Many thanks to the unnamed guest who corrected the first innings details for Akahoshi's run.