June 6th Iwata v Ohtonari - Hiyma breaks his bat but makes sure of the win

This was a nice victory. Tigers and Iwata had to fight hard but showed considerable spirit to beat the hot Hawks. Hawks wore the old Nankai Hawks uniform and against the modern Tigers uniform this made a wonderful spectacle. The special inter-league uniforms are a great innovation. Line scores

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

Starting lineups

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

Hawks
1. Honda (Second)
2. Kawasaki (Short)
3. Matsunaka (Left)
4. Kokubo (First)
5. Shibahara (Right)
6. Matsuda (Third)
7. Hasegawa (Centre)
8. Yamazaki (Catcher)
9. Ohtonari (Pitcher)

Iwata started well with a strike out. He then got a ground out but the third Hawks batter, Matsunaka he walked. Kokubo lined out to third to end the innings. Tigers first saw an Akahoshi hit. Sekimoto grounded to Kawasaki who messed it up and Tigers had runners on first and third with no outs. Arai flew out which allowed Akahoshi to reach third and so the situation was dangerous for the Hawks. Ohtonari walked Kanemoto to load the bases and then Ford hit into a double play - end of innings and a wasted chance. Hawks second saw the first two outs fall easily enough and then the third batter, Hasegawa hit. Next batter Yamazaki hit a double and Hasegawa flew home 1-0 Hawks. In the Tigers second Toritani hit and then Noguchi hit - runners on first and second with no outs. Baldris flew out which moved Toritani to third but then Iwata struck out looking and Akahoshi flew out. Once again the Hawks had escaped a dangerous situation. The Hawks third saw a Kawasaki two base - runner on second with one out. Next batter, Matsunaka. He hit to left and Kawasaki was home 2-0 Hawks and everything was looking good for the Pacific League side. Kokubo grounded out and Shibahara struck out to end the innings. Tigers third saw Kanemoto hit and Ford take a dead ball but once again they were unable to convert any runners.

Hawks fourth was straightforward - Iwata retired the side in order. For the Tigers fourth Noguchi grounded out. Then Baldris had a two base hit to left. Iwata struck out looking and Ohtonari only needed one more batter. He unleashed a wild pitch which took Baldris to third and then faced Akahoshi. With one ball Akahoshi bounced the ball over Ohtonari (rather luckily) past second for the run 2-1 Hawks. Akahoshi then tried to steal second but the throw was good and he was tagged out. As he was tagged out the fielder's arm came up and caught him in the face. This was painful and unfortunate but totally unintentional. Hawks fifth saw Ohtonari hit. He was bunted to second by Honda and then Tigers fielding took over. Diving to his right Baldris took a superb catch to dismiss Kawasaki. Then Iwata faced Matsunaka. He hit towards second and it was Sekimoto's turn to take a superb line catch and this one ended the innings.

For Tigers fifth Sekimoto flew out. Next batter Arai who took a pitch and a ball and then hit a straight home run 2-2 Scores level. Kanemoto grounded out and Ford struck out to end the fifth. Iwata pitched the sixth and gave up a hit to Kokubo. Shibahara grounded out and then Matsuda managed a foul fly. The next batter Hasegawa walked. Noguchi then failed to hold a pitch and Hawks had runners on second and third. This was a real challenge for Iwata. He responded by striking out Hasegawa to end the innings - nice pitching. Oh continued with Ohtonari who justified the faith placed in him by getting three outs. The Hawks seventh was taken by Kubota - as a Tigers fan you felt safe. The pinch hitter Kidokoro flew out and that was down. Next batter, Honda had a two base hit. No problem but Hasegawa also hit - runners on first and third with one out. Matsunaka walked - bases loaded and the situation looked difficult. Next batter Kokubo. Kubota was sublime and struck him out with a low curve ball. He then faced Shibahara who he also struck out - nice pitching. Kubota had got himself into a crisis but had shown considerable character in getting Tigers out with no damage.

The Tigers seventh was straightforward and the relief pitcher, Nitkowski retired the Tigers in order. Okada continued with Kubota in the Hawks eighth and he had no problems retiring them in order. For the Tiger's eighth Oh continued with Nitkowski. The leadoff Arai walked and then Kanemoto hit - runners on first and second with no outs. A wild pitch saw the runners advance to second and third still with no outs. Next batter, Ford walked and the bases were loaded. Tigers fans were by now singing the KO song without music and the pressure was really on. Toritani took a dead ball - walk in run 3-2 Tigers with no outs. Oh decided to replace the pitcher and Fujioka was summoned. He faced Hiyama (pinch hitter) who worked the count full then hit. His bat broke but he hit well enough for a centre timely hit 5-2 Tigers. Baldris bunted the remaining runners to second and third but Yano lined out to Fujioka to end the innings. The Hawks ninth was of course Fujikawa. Pinch hitter Kosai struck out. Then Honda hit. Kawasaki battled Fujikawa for a while and then hit to right. In a superb example of mobility - Ford rushed round to take the fly ball and get the second out. The final batter was Matsunaka. He took two strikes and then appeared to strike out.The balloons were released but he had fouled. Kawasaki stole second but this was irrelevant. The next pitch was a ball and then the final pitch struck him out swinging. Tigers victory

A fine come from behind victory. It was backed by fine fielding and the Hawks attack was contained and then neutralized. Kubota picked up the victory and Fujikawa his 20th save. Great work by the Tigers.