June 9th Shimoyanagi v Kondoh - Shimoyanagi's birthday gift

Tigers have now won their last five games putting together a five game streak for the first time this season. Their lead over the Dragons stands at 7.5 games. Ochiai said that even if it were 20 games Dragons would be able to overhaul it. This is unrealistic if it were 20 all Dragons could do would be to pack up and go home. Hype aside he is right that it is too early to talk about winning the pennant yet. Shimoyanagi picked up his sixth victory and was asked how it felt to win at 40 (he has just turned 40). His response was that it felt exactly the same as at 39. Line scores

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

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

Buffaloes
1. Shimoyama (Centre)
2. Ohbiki (Short)
3. Cabrera (First)
4. Rhodes (Left)
5. Kitagawa (Third)
6. Hamanaka (Right)
7. Hidaka (Catcher)
8. Gotoh (Second)
9. Kondoh (Pitcher)

Shimoyanagi was in fine form tonight and pitched much better than his previous outing. Buffaloes did start with an Ohbiki hit but first was as far as he got and the innings ended scoreless. Akahoshi hit and was bunted to second. Arai walked and it looked like Kondoh was in trouble with runners on first and second and only one out. He stayed cool and got Kanemoto to hit into a double play and end the threat. In the Buffaloes second both Kitagawa and Hamanaka hit to set up runners on first and second and Buffaloes no doubt hoped to take advantage of Shimoyanagi's weakness in the early stages. It was not to be as the next three batters fell in order and the batters got nowhere. Kondoh sailed through the Tigers second without trouble and likewise both pitchers did the same for the third. Shimoyanagi then sailed through the Buffaloes fourth but Kondoh couldn't do the same for the Tigers version.

Firstly Sekimoto hit towards short who fumbled allowing the Tigers third to reach first safely. Then Arai slammed a two base hit to left. Runners on second and third with no outs. Kanemoto was next and he also hit to left - both runners home 2-0 Tigers Kanemoto on second. Katsuragi hit and was able to advance to second on another error with Kanemoto making third. This brought up Toritani who hit a sacrifice fly to left 3-0 Tigers with Katsuragi moving up to third. Then Yano who went right 4-0 Tigers. Fujimoto hit but Shimoyanagi couldn't continue the rally and grounded out to end the innings. The Buffaloes started with a hit but then Gotoh grounded into a double play. The final batter Ikki (pinch hitting for Kondoh who Oishi had decided was finished for the night) struck out. The next pitcher was Komatsu who interspersed strike outs with a Sekimoto walk and Kanemoto hit arriving at runners on first and third before getting Katsuragi to ground out for the final out. The Buffaloes sixth finally saw them get on the scoreboard. Shimoyama hit and then reached third on an Ohbiki hit. Shimoyanagi was in a jam with no outs. He struck out Cabrera looking and then faced Rhodes. Rhodes hit to right and Shimoyama was home 4-1 Buffaloes and runners on first and third with one out. Next batter Kitagawa hit into a 6-4-3 double play and the Buffaloes chance was lost.

Komatsu continued into the Tigers sixth and got Toritani to ground out. Yano hit and was bunted to second by Fujimoto - obviously Shimoyanagi wouldn't return. Lin was the pinch hitter but after working the count full grounded out to extinguish the chance. Egusa took the seventh and immediatley walked Hamanaka. Hidaka flew out and then Gotoh grounded out with Hamanaka moving to second. Here Okada decided to switch to Kubota. He was due to face Shiozaki (pinch hitting for Komatsu) but he was switched for Muramatsu. This didn't make any difference as he struck out looking. The Tigers seventh started with a liner by Akahoshi. Then a Sekimoto fly before Arai took a dead ball. Kanemoto hit - runners on first and second - but Ford (replacement right) struck out to end the innings. The Buffaloes eighth turned out to be a bit more lively than anticipated. The leadoff Shimoyama hit. Then Kubota dead balled Ohbiki. Next batter Cabrera flew out but at this point Okada went to Williams. He got Rhodes to hit back at him but fluffed the pick up and throw - bases loaded with one out. Was Williams going to blow it again? Not this time - Kitagawa struck out and then Hamanaka flew out to centre. Good recovery by the Tigers.

For the bottom of the eighth Toritani led off with a hit. One out later he was bunted to second by Fujimoto - which left Takahashi (pinch hitting for Williams) to do something. He hit into a double play. So to the ninth and Fujikawa - his fourth game in a row. He blew the Buffaloes batters away on 12 pitches, striking out all three batters. Tigers victory.

This was a valuable victory. Shimoyanagi had pitched economically for his 6th win (79 pitches in six innings) and given away only one run on 7 hits. Buffaloes had worked hard but had no answer to a stronger side. Fujikawa picked up his 22nd save as Tigers maintained their momentum. The four game series at Koshien had been perfect with four victories out of four games.