June 11th Uezono v Ishii - Bold pitching wins the day

Tiger's winning streak is now six games and they have become the first team in Japan to win 40 games. Furthermore they reached this goal faster than the 2003 Hoshino team. This game they attacked the Lions batters aggressively and despite a strong challenge this strategy paid dividends. Line scores

       1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Tigers 2 1 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 6 13 0
Lions  0 0 0 1 2 0 1 0 0 4  9 0

Starting lineups

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

Starting pitcher was Uezono

Lions
1. Kataoka (Second)
2. Kuriyama (Centre)
3. Nakajima (Short)
4. Brazell (DH)
5. G G Sato (Right)
6. Nakamura (Third)
7. Yoshihito Ishii (First)
8. Hosokawa (Catcher)
9. Bocachica (Left)

Starting pitcher was Kazuhisa Ishii

Ishii would not start well and in fact would struggle throughout his stint. He walked Sekimoto and then gave up a hit to Arai - runners on first and second with one out. This brought up Kanemoto who flew out and next was Takahashi. He hit deep to left centre driving in both runners 2-0 Tigers. Takahashi tried to go for third but was tagged out and the innings ended. Uezono also started badly. Kataoka hit and then stole second. Kuriyama hit and then Uezono dead balled Nakajima. Bases loaded with no outs - oops. Here was saw Uezono at his best - he lifted his game to another level and firstly struck out Brazell, then G G Sato and finally Nakamura to exit the innings without giving up a run. In the Tigers second Toritani flew out but then Ishii faced Ford. He punched his second home run of the season 3-0 Tigers and a very nice start. After another out Baldris walked but then tried to steal second and was thrown out to end the innings. The Lions second was much quieter but Hosokawa hit. The next two batters struck out looking and he was left stranded. Ishii dismissed the first two batters he faced but then Arai and Kanemoto both hit - Kanemoto's hit cannoning off Ishii's leg. As a precaution it was decided to remove him and Hsu took the mound. He got Lin (replacement DH) to fly out and end the innings. Uezono continued to strike out Lion's batters as if there was no tomorrow - two more fell swinging in the third with the final batter grounding out.

Tigers fourth saw Toritani lead off with a hit but Ford grounded into a double play to end that chance and then Noguchi flew out - no score this time. Uezono started by striking out G G Sato but then left a ball a bit too high for Nakamura. He swung and hit very nicely for a solo home run to left 3-1 Tigers. Ishii grounded out and then Hosokawa struck out and Tigers still had a two run lead. Baldris led off the fifth with a hit but then Akahoshi also hit. Sekimoto laid down a perfect bunt and Tigers had runners on second and third with one out. Hsu then let fly a wild pitch and Baldris was home 4-1 Tigers with Akahoshi on third. Arai walked and then Hsu faced Kanemoto - he flew out to left for the sacrifice fly 5-1 Tigers. Lin hit driving Arai to third and him to second and then Toritani walked. Ford, though, flew out to end the innings. Uezono returned for the fifth and was obviously tired. He started with a leadoff two base to Bocachica. Kataoka was next and he hit driving Bocachica home 5-2 Tigers. Kurihara grounded out but then Nakajima hit - runners on first and third with one out and a sacrifice fly was possible, next batter Brazell. Uezono got the first two strikes but couldn't get the third and could only watch as Brazell launched a sacrifice fly to right 5-3 Tigers. G G Sato grounded out and the innings ended. Lions were still in it.

Tigers sixth was quiet with Shotsu having no problem. Next pitcher for the Tigers was Watanabe - Uezono having been replaced at the end of the fifth. He had thrown 105 pitches and struck out 9 while giving up 3 runs. Okada would have liked to have kept him in longer but recognised that he was tired and that his pitch count was enough - good managing. Uezono perhaps tried to hard and could have paced himself more but once again had demonstrated awesome potential. Watanabe was also impressive (he is now part of the Olympic squad) striking out all the batters he faced. Shotsu gave up a hit in Tigers seventh to Arai and then was replaced by Hoshino. He dead balled Kanemoto hitting him on his butt - which seemed very painful. Runners on first and second with one out but the next two batters Lin and Toritani could not do anything and the innings ended. Kubota took the Lions seventh and was not impressive - he chose to have one of his forgetable innings. The lead off was Bocachica and he slammed his second pitch - a slider - to left for a home run 5-4 Tigers. Then Kataoka hit - runner on first and no out. Kataoka stole second with Yano's throw being appallingly bad making it an easy steal. Next batter Kuriyama walked and Lions were in a good situation. Nakajima hit straight to Baldris who stepped on his bag for the first out, then the ball went to Sekimoto for the second. Here Kuriyama deliberately grabbed Sekimoto's leg to stop the throw to first and prevent the triple play. Runner on first with two outs. Okada went to Williams for the final out and he faced Brazell. Brazell flew out to centre and the innings was over.

Okada started the Tigers eighth with a pinch hitter - Katsuragi (replacement right as well). He hit and and was bunted to second by Yano. Okada went to another pinch hitter Hiyama. He has been phenominal and today was no different. His first pitch was hammered into the gap between right and centre for a three base hit 6-4 Tigers. This left Fujimoto on third (pinch running for Hiyama and replacement second - Sekimoto moving over to third) with one out. Akahoshi though struck out to a fine piece of pitching by Ohnuma - the Lions pitcher for the eighth - and the sacrifice fly didn't happen. The final batter of the innings, Sekimoto flew out to centre. Williams pitched the Lions eighth and took them down in order striking out Nakamura on the way and getting Etoh (pinch hitter) to fly out to end the innings. In the Tigers ninth Lin had his second hit of the game and Toritani walked but Katsuragi flew out and the innings ended scoreless. Lions ninth of course was Fujikawa. Pitching five games in a row hasn't affected him and he mowed down the Lions batters, pinch hitter Satoh - struck out swinging, Bocachica - struck out swinging and final batter Kataoka - struck out swinging. Tigers victory.

A very good victory based on an aggressive well executed game plan. Lions had fought hard but hadn't had the extra on the night. Tigers did have the extra and took advantage of it. Uezono picked up his second and well earned win and Fujikawa his 23rd save. Sugiyama is due to return to the top team against the Marines as he is now judged ready. Minami-president has also announced that Tigers are looking for an emergency foreign pitcher to strengthen the line up.