July 19th Andoh v Ogasawara - Tigers take the series

Sometimes a pitcher can pitch superbly yet not pick up the result (Shimoyanagi or Kawakami). Sometimes they are mediocre and walk away with the win. This was the case with Andoh's eighth win. Five innings of 111 pitches with three walks and two runs given up but he was still able to claim the victory. The Dragons didn't seem to have any real ability to hit back and Okada could see this as he didn't use JFK to finish the game. Line scores

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

Starting lineups

1. Hirano (Second)
2. Sekimoto (Third)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Ford (Centre)
6. Iwata (First)
7. Yano (Catcher)
8. Asai (Right)
9. Andoh (Pitcher)

Dragons

1. Araki (Second)
2. Ibata (Short)
3. Morino (Centre)
4. Woods (First)
5. Wada (Left)
6. Nakamura (Third)
7. Hirata (Right)
8. Tanishige (Catcher)
9. Ogasawara (Pitcher)

An interesting lineup by the Tigers. Ford made his return to the top team and Hirano was back at second. Iwata of course did not start at first - this was Takahashi who proved to be a very good choice for this game. Hirano led off with a hit. He made second on Sekimoto's ground out but then neither Toritani or Kanemoto were able to move him beyond that base. Andoh started encouragingly enough - both Araki and Ibata fell easily but then he walked Morino. Next he walked Woods - he was in trouble. Wada hit to left and Morino was home 1-0 Dragons and things looked ominous. Nakamura hit to load the bases and Andoh faced Hirata. He got the Dragons right to strike out swinging and end the innings. One felt that the Dragons should have had more and that Andoh had had a very lucky escape. Tigers second saw Takahashi walk but Ogaswara kept him safe on first and the innings petered out with no change to the score. The Dragons second was quiet with Andoh retiring the side in order - maybe he was settling down. The Tigers third saw Andoh lead off and strike out. Hirano was next and he walked. Then Sekimoto hit his first pitch and Hirano was round to third with Sekimoto safe on first. Next batter was Toritani who applied a bit of power to his first pitch for a three run home run into the right stand 3-1 Tigers. The game had suddenly turned around. The next two batters didn't do anything and the innings ended. Andoh walked Morino in the Dragons third but was able to get out of the innings without any damage. His pitch count was disturbingly high though. Both Tigers and Dragons fourth innings were quiet with no one getting on base.

Tigers fifth saw Ogasawara dead ball Hirano with one out. Next batter Sekimoto grounded into a double play and the innings was over. The Dragons fifth started with an Ogasawara ground out. Then Araki hit, followed by Ibata - runners on first and second with one out. Morino struck out looking which brought up Woods. He hit to left 3-2 Tigers with Ibata round to third as well. The final batter Wada grounded out to third and the Tigers retained a slim lead. This was the end of Andoh who as I mentioned had pitched five undistinguished innings. Ogasawara continued into Tigers sixth. After getting Toritani to ground out he walked Kanemoto. Ford flew out in foul ground and there were two outs. Next batter was Takahashi (an ex-Dragon). He stroked his first pitch into the left stand for a two run home run 5-2 Tigers. Finally Yano struck out but Tigers were in control. Watanabe replaced Andoh in the sixth and had no problems getting the Dragons to fall in order. Tigers seventh was pitched by Nagamine who struck out three Tigers batters in succession. Watanabe continued into Dragons seventh striking out two and getting the other batter to ground out - very nice controlled relief pitching.

Sekimoto led off Tigers eighth with a hit. Toritani and Kanemoto flew out which brought up Ford. He hit a two base to right centre which brought Sekimoto home 6-2 Tigers. Then came Hiyama (pinch hitter). His first pitch was hit through the gap into centre field and Ford was home 7-2 Tigers. Finally Yano but he struck out. Still Tigers were comfortable by now. Perhaps surprisingly Egusa was chosen for the Dragons eighth. He was on form and struck out two of the three batters he faced. Nelson pitched the Tigers ninth and gave up a two base hit to Katsuragi (replacement first). One out later he walked Sekimoto but Toritani lined out to Ibata for the final out. Egusa returned for the Dragons eighth. He struck out Nakamura and Delarosa (replacement third) but then gave up a hit to Tatsunami (pinch hitter who was pinch run for by Shimizu). However, he got Inoue (pinch hitter) to strike out and the game was over - Tigers victory.

A nice victory which had given Tigers the series. Good batting and timely use of the long ball had beaten the Dragons. Egusa had shown his best side striking out five of the seven batters he faced. Okada had handled the game well and had been able to work round Andoh's poor performance.