April 18th Andoh v Rios - Ratcheting up the pressure

A game most people thought wouldn't be played ended up with a Tigers victory. The crowd was poor, the outfield sodden and the rain continual but the show must go on. Line scores

         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Tigers   1 0 0 0 3 0 0 1 1 6 10 0
Swallows 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 2  9 3

Starting lineups

1. Akahoshi (Centre)
2. Hirano (Second)
3. Arai (First)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Katsuragi (Right)
6. Toritani (Short)
7. Yano (Catcher)
8. Sekimoto (Third)
9. Andoh (Pitcher)

Swallows
1. Iihara (Left)
2. Tanaka (Second)
3. Aoki (Centre)
4. Guiel (Right)
5. Riggs (First)
6. Miyamoto (Short)
7. Hatakeyama (Third)
8. Fukukawa (Catcher)
9. Rios (Pitcher)

A rainy and unpleasant day in Tokyo and Akahoshi faced the Swallow's pitcher Rios. Akahoshi worked the count full and took a walk. He was bunted to second by Hirano and then to third on a Arai ground out. Kanemoto was next and he hit a ground ball to Hatakeyama who fumbled it (not the first Swallow's mistake). Kanemoto safe on first and Akahoshi home 1-0 Tigers. Then Katsuragi and Toritani walked to load the bases but Yano struck out. Andoh started better, Iihara struck out but then Tanaka hit. He tried to steal second but was thrown out. The next batter, Aoki grounded out to second to end the innings. The Tiger's second was Rios' best innings - he retired the Tigers in order. Andoh's second was not so impressive. Firstly Guiel hit, then Riggs and Miyamoto were out. Hatakeyama hit a rather lucky two base which put runners on second and third (One thought that Guiel could have tried for home). Fukukawa was walked to get at Rios. He hit past third but Sekimoto dived and snagged the ball (one can't imagine Imaoka doing this) and was up to fire it to Toritani for the final out of the innings.

For Rios' third Arai hit and Kanemoto walked. Katsuragi was next and he hit. There was some interference and Katsuragi was safe. Bases loaded one out. Next up was Toritani who hit into a double play, the ball going to first and back to the home plate in time for Fukukawa to tag Arai out - end of innings. In the Swallows version Tanaka walked but nothing came of this. So to the Tigers fourth. Yano hit and Sekimoto grounded out. Next up Andoh - he received a pitch which looked like a dead ball (replays showed it wasn't - not good by Andoh). Runners on first and second with one out. They advanced to second and third on an Akahoshi ground out but Hirano wasn't able to convert the situation into runs and so the innings ended scoreless. In the Swallows fourth Miyamoto hit. Next up Hatakeyama hit towards Toritani who threw to second and Miyamoto was ruled out. This was dubious - it clearly looked like Miyamoto had made second safely. Fukukawa hit a two base which bisected Kanemoto and Akahoshi scores level 1-1. This was the nearest Swallows would get to the lead.

Tigers response was immediate. Arai walked and then Kanemoto hit. Runners on first and second no outs. Next up Katsuragi who hit towards first but Riggs fluffed the take and bases were loaded with no outs. Toritani hit 2-1 Tigers Next batter was Yano. He hit, Kanemoto and Katsuragi home 4-1 Tigers. Sekimoto though grounded into a double play and Andoh flew out to end the innings. Swallows tried to hit back but could only manage an Aoki hit and so to the sixth. Akahoshi faced Satoh (a nice looking rather plump individual with glasses). Hirano and Arai grounded out and then Kanemoto walked. This brought up a new pitcher - Matsuoka. He got the final out to end the innings. In the sixth Riggs hit and then was out as Miyamoto almost hit into a double play. Hirano's throw was not good and so he was safe. He then stole second in another dubious call by the umpire. Nothing came of this though.

The seventh was quiet for both sides. The eighth was different for Tigers. Imaoka pinch hitting for Watanabe (who had pitched the seventh) grounded out. Akahoshi though hit a two base to right. Next up Hirano who also hit a two base to right 5-1 Tigers. No one though converted Hirano. Egusa pitched the Swallows eighth and struck out all the batters he faced. Finally the ninth, Ford hit, Yano hit - runners on first and second, one out. Sekimoto hammered a hit beyond Guiel and Ford was home 6-1 Tigers runners on first and third one out. However, the next two batters did nothing and the innings ended. With the game in the bag (one didn't think the Swallows were going to score 5 or 6 runs in their ninth) Kubota was summoned to pitch. Why Kubota? Why not a different pitcher? Kubota started poorly, he gave up a home run to Miyamoto which worried no one 6-2 Tigers. He then gave up a hit to Hatakeyama - more worrying. However, the next batter, Miyade (pinch hitting) grounded into a double play. The final batter, Takeuchi flew out to Akahoshi and the game was over. Tigers victory.

Good work by the Tigers. Andoh hadn't pitched well but did enough to earn the victory. When it was needed Tigers added the runs and overwhelmed the Swallows.