July 2nd Iwata v Yamamoto - Katsuragi's sayonara wins the day

One thing that you must praise Okada for is his use of pinch hitters. He has frequently put just the right hitter on at just the right time. Last night was no exception and gave Tigers the series and a vital win. One has to say though that the Dragons fielding has been pretty poor and they have suffered the consequences of this. On an unrelated note Kanemoto was named the Central League's MVP for position players for June. His average was .413 with 6 home runs and 20 rbi's. Central League MVP for pitching was the Dragons Kawakami. Line scores

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9  R  H E
Dragons 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 0  3 11 2
Tigers  1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1x 4 12 0

Starting lineups

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

Dragons
1. Araki (Second)
2. Koike (Centre)
3. Nakamura (Third)
4. Woods (First)
5. Wada (Left)
6. Lee (Right)
7. Delarosa (Short)
8. Shimizu (Catcher)
9. Yamamoto (Pitcher)

Iwata would start well and even though he got himself into trouble he generally had the ability to get himself out of it. With Dragons first all three batters fell in order. Yamamoto didn't start well - the second Dragons starter to be in trouble that series. Akahoshi grounded out but Sekimoto dug a low pitch out and managed to bounce it along the third baseline for a two base hit. Arai flew out moving Sekimoto to third and then Kanemoto hit 1-0 Tigers. Yamamoto then gave up another hit to Lin and walked Toritani to load the bases - final batter Noguchi. He worked the count full and then watched as the ball sailed by outside the zone only for it to be given as a strike. Noguchi would have needed arm extensions to get that pitch - it really was outside the zone. Dragons second was quiet - Iwata retiring the side in order. Yamamoto's second wasn't much better than his first. He got the first two outs then Akahoshi hit. He stole second and then Sekimoto slammed the ball past Yamamoto into centre field for a hit. Akahoshi of course was home 2-0 Tigers. Arai hit but Kanemoto grounded out to end the innings.

Iwata then ran into trouble. He started with a Delarosa hit (Delarosa would have a very good game with the bat). Next batter Shimizu and unneccessarily Iwata walked him. Yamamoto bunted the runners round to second and third. Then Araki came up to bat. He got a pitch that stayed to high and dropped it into the gap between centre and the infield - both runners home, scores level 2-2. Araki then stole second - he wasn't actually very fast but the throw was poor that he was able to make it easily enough. He then stole third and Koike walked - runners on first and third with one out. Iwata needed a double play and got Nakamura to do exactly that - end of innings. In the Tigers third Yamamoto got Lin to strike out and then Toritani slammed a huge three base hit. Next batter Noguchi - he hit a fly to right but it didn't go too far. Still it was far enough and seeing how successful Lin had been the day before Toritani should have gone. However, Wada held him back as usual - chance wasted with two outs. Baldris was deliberately walked to get at Iwata which didn't quite go according to plan. He hit towards second. This was an easy take and throw for Araki but he fluffed it. Toritani was home 3-2 Tigers and Iwata was safe on first, a very costly error.Akahoshi hit and bases were loaded. Sekimoto launched into his first pitch but an excellent jump by Delarosa caught the ball and ended the innings.

Dragons tried to hit back in their fourth with a Wada and a Delarosa hit but then the final batter Shimizu grounded out to Iwata and the innings was over. Yamamoto then gave up a hit to Kanemoto in the Tigers fourth but nothing came of this. Iwata contined in the Dragons fifth. Arai (pinch hitting for Yamamoto) flew out to Akahoshi but then Araki hit. Next batter Koike hit and Dragons had runners on first and second with one out. This became runners on second and third when Iwata released a wild pitch. Still one out and a sacrifice fly would tie the score - next batter Nakamura. He worked the count full but then Iwata got him swinging - two out and Tyronne Woods was the next batter. Iwata walked him to load the bases with Wada as the next batter. He threw three straight balls which Wada refused to swing at and then got a strike. His next ball was high and invited Wada to swing at it. Wada duly did so straight down the throat of Kanemoto - end of innings. If Iwata had intended this it was a bold play showing great courage. Yamamoto was replaced by Asao for the Tigers fifth - he hadn't pitched very well at all and had been lucky to avoid more runs being scored off him. Asao had no trouble retiring the Tigers batters in order and the innings ended without anything of note happening.

Egusa was chosen to protect the Tiger's lead and didn't. He got the first batter, Lee to strike out but then with one strike to Delarosa served him up a nice fat pitch in the zone. Delarosa took the gift and dispatched it into the left stand for a solo home run 3-3 scores level. Egusa then struck out Tanishige (pinch hitter and replacement catcher) but gave up a hit to Inoue (pinch hitter). Finally he induced Araki to strike out but Iwata had lost his chance of another victory. Dragons seventh meant JFK and Kubota. He struck out Koike, got Nakamura to ground out and then lured Woods to fly out. A good performance which might indicate improvement. The trio is taking it a game at a time. Lin lead off the Tigers seventh with a hit and was bunted to second by Toritani. Then Takahashi (pinch hitter) flew out and Baldris grounded out to short. Tigers pitcher for the eighth was Williams who got the first two batters to ground out in short time. Delarosa was next and he had his fourth hit of the night. Tanishige followed with another hit and Delarosa charged round the bases and dived to make third safely - runners on first and third with two outs. Next batter was Tatsuanmi (pinch hitter) and Williams was clearly nervous. He pitched a full count and then Tatsunami slammed one past second. Sekimoto, though, was up to the challenge and snagged the ball then threw to Arai for the final out - a match saving play!

For Tigers eighth Ochiai went with Yoshimi. He walked Akahoshi, the second batter he faced. Sekimoto bunted him to second which brought up Arai who also walked - runners on first and second. Kanemoto hit well and if Koike had been standing a little further in would have placed the shot nicely over him but was caught out. The Dragons ninth was of course Fujikawa and showed that Okada was planning to win the game in nine. He got the first two outs then faced Nakamura. Nakamura had been hitless the whole match and his single hit was a lucky double along the third baseline (like Sekimoto's hit in the first innings). Next batter was Woods but before he faced Fujikawa a mound conference was held with Kubo (pitching coach) offering advice and help to Fujikawa who struggles against Woods. Woods worked the count full but then Fujikawa unleashed a wild pitch which hit the Dragons No.4 on the arm. Woods was none too pleased about the dead ball but took the base - runners on first and second and next batter Wada who Fujikawa has also had trouble with. With the count at one ball Wada swung and hit a high fly which was taken by Lin to end the innings. Yoshimi returned for the Tigers ninth and faced Lin. He hit to first and saw Woods fumble the ball allowing him to reach first safely. Toritani flew out and then Okada turned to the pinch hitters. First Hiyama but he flew out - two outs. Next Katsuragi - he worked the count full and then slammed a two base to right over Lee. Shuta (pinch running for Lin) flew round the bases and was home 4-3 Tigers and a sayonara victory.

Katsuragi was delighted as this was his first ever sayonara victory hit. Fujikawa picked up the win and Yoshimi the loss. This had been a tight match but the Tigers had had the little extra on the night. Dragons fielding let them down with serious errors at significant moments and they do need to pick it up in this area. A well crafted victory by a very strong side.