July 16th Uezono v Muranaka - Tigers win a tight game

Arai sat this game out with back pain. His place was taken by Takahashi at first with Sekimoto batting third. Both pitchers were very good with Uezono being particularly impressive. Line scores

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

Starting lineups

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

Swallows
1. Fukuchi (Right)
2. Miyamoto (Third)
3. Aoki (Centre)
4. Hatakeyama (First)
5. Tanaka (Second)
6. Iihara (Left)
7. Wilson (Short)
8. Kawamoto (Catcher)
9. Muranaka (Pitcher)

This game would prove to be a pitching duel where the losers would be the team that blinked first. This proved to be the Swallows. They started well enough with Fukuchi hitting. He was bunted to second by Miyamoto and then third by Aoki. One has to wonder whether the second bunt was wise as it left Uezono with only one more out to get. This was Hatakeyama who duly flew out to centre. The Tigers first started with an Akahoshi strike out but then Hirano hit. Sekimoto walked and Tigers had runners on first and second. Both Kanemoto and Takahashi tried to convert the runners but couldn't do so and the innings ended scoreless. With one out Iihara hit - Uezono would give up hits throughout his stint but have enough to ensure no damage. One out later Iihara tried to steal second but was thrown out and the innings ended safely for the Tigers. For Tigers second Noguchi hit and then Uezono hit setting up runners on first and second for the second time in as many innings. This time it was Akahoshi who failed to take advantage of the chance. Swallows third was quiet with the side going down in order but once again Tigers got runners on base in their version. This time Hirano led off with a walk. Then Sekimoto managed a hit to left which set up runners on first and second with no outs. The next three batters could do nothing as Muranaka showed considerable ability in getting them all to fly out.

Swallows fourth saw Aoki's first hit of the game. He then stole second and advanced to third on an error. With one out this looked dangerous but Uezono was up to the challenge - striking out Hatakeyama to end the chance of a sacrifice fly and then getting Tanaka to fly out and end the innings. Tigers fourth and Baldris had the only two base hit of the game after Noguchi struck out. He advanced to third on an Uezono ground out and then Akahoshi hit a ground ball to Miyamoto at third. He messed up and Akahoshi was safe on first. Baldris was home and the score was 1-0 Tigers. Hirano grounded out but Tigers had a slender lead. Swallows fifth was quiet as Uezono retired the three batters in order. Tigers fifth saw Takahashi hit (he was pinch run for by Katsuragi who would also replace him at first) but nothing came of this. Miyamoto hit in the Swallows sixth but once again nothing happened. Tigers sixth was quiet with everyone falling in order.

For Swallows seventh Uezono continued but gave up a leadoff hit to Hatakeyama. He was bunted to second by Tanaka and then Iihara flew out. At this point Okada decided to replace Uezono. He had pitched superbly - taking only 92 pitches and giving up no runs while striking out 5 and walking none. Maybe he could have gotten the final out but Okada decided that it was time for Williams. He faced Kawashima who he got to strike out and the innings ended scoreless. Tigers seventh was also scoreless with no one getting on base. This also saw the end of Muranaka. Whilst not quite as effective as Uezono he had pitched well and limited the damage to one unearned run. Williams returned for the Swallows eighth and started well enough striking out Kawamoto. Then as his recent trend he gave up multiple hits. The upshot was that Swallows had bases loaded with one out - their only real chance of the night. Williams struck out Aoki to get the second out but then Okada decided to switch to Fujikawa. He faced Hatakeyama and struck him out to exit the innings with the Tigers lead intact. This was a vital innings as the Swallows really could have taken the game here. Williams had recovered well but does seem to be hitting trouble more often this season. After retiring Muranaka Swallows started with Maruyama. He ran into trouble immediatley, giving up a hit to Kanemoto. Kanemoto then stole a rare second base and Maruyama walked Katsuragi. Hagiwara was summoned and struck out Toritani. Then he gave up a hit to Yano - bases loaded. Here Kanemoto should have tried for home but once again was held up by Wada (third base coach). With Fujikawa coming up to bat Tigers hadn't much leeway. Hiyama (pinch hitter) was the next batter and he hit a grounder to third. This allowed Kanemoto home 2-0 Tigers runners on first and second. Katsuragi was replaced by Fujimoto who stole third but the final batter was Fujikawa for a rare at bat. He struck out singing and the innings was over. Swallows ninth was a bit of an anticlimax after that - Fujikawa retired the batters in order and the Tigers had won.

A well worked victory built on a fine pitching performance by Uezono. Tigers had taken advantage of their chances when they had occured whilst Swallows had wasted theirs. Fujikawa recorded his 29th save and had a rare at bat. The match heros were Uezono and Fujikawa who had both played a vital part in the victory.