July 11th Vogelsong v Maeda - A long struggle

Tigers took a long time to win this game - 11 innings before Sekimoto's sayonara hit. Hirano continued his rehabilitation making an appearance at second late in the game. Line scores

       1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 R H E
Carp   0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0  0  0 1 8 1
Tigers 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0  0 1x 2 9 0

Starting lineups

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

Carp
1. Higashide (Second)
2. Akamatsu (Centre)
3. Shima (Right)
4. Kurihara (First)
5. Seabol (Third)
6. Amaya (Left)
7. Soyogi (Short)
8. Kura (Catcher)
9. Maeda (Pitcher)

The game started quite hopefully for the Carp. With two out Shima hit. Then Kurihara hit - runners on first and second. Next up was Seabol who struck out looking and the innings ended. Akahoshi led off the Tigers first with a hit. He was bunted to second by Sekimoto and then made third on an Arai ground out. Kanemoto walked and Tigers had runners on first and third. Katsuragi grounded out though and the innings was over. The Carp's second saw all three batters out in quick order. Then in Tigers second Toritani led off with a two base hit. He was joined on base by Noguchi who walked but eventually Vogelsong hit into a double play to end the innings. Vogelsong retired the batters in order in the Carp third. In Tigers third Arai hit but nothing came of this. The Carp fourth was more of the same - batters retired in order. In the Tigers fourth, they once again had runners on first and second, due to a Toritani walk and Noguchi hit with one out. The next two batters failed to convert. So far, against undistinguished pitching Tigers batters had failed to convert their chances in three innings. The fifth was quiet - both pitchers had no problems retiring the sides in order.

Carp sixth and we come to Vogelsong's danger point. He had pitched well up until now but around this point does run into trouble. With two outs Akamatsu hit. Then Shima - runners on first and third. Next batter Kurihara hit 1-0 Carp runners on first and second. Seabol walked - bases loaded then Amaya grounded out and the innings was over. Tigers sixth only saw Toritani walk. Watanabe took the Carp seventh and wasn't at his best. With two out Maeda hit then Higashide reached first after swinging at a wild pitch. The final batter, Akamatsu flew out. In Tigers seventh Akahoshi and then Sekimoto hit - runners on first and third with two outs. Maeda was replaced by Schultz who got the final out. Carp eighth was pitched by Kubota who gave up a hit to Shima. He reached second on a ground out and when Amaya walked Carp had runners on first and second but the final batter was Morikasa (pinch hitter) who grounded out. Interestingly, Okada let Noguchi catch for Kubota - normally his elite JFK pitching trio only work with Yano.

Kanemoto led off Tigers eighth with a two base hit off Schultz. A ground out later - which moved Kanemoto to third - Schultz was replaced by Nagakawa. He walked Toritani and then faced Takahashi (pinch hitter). He duly hit the required sacrifice fly and Kanemoto was home 1-1 scores level. In Carp's ninth Fujikawa walked Higashide but got the final out and the innings went nowhere. In Tigers ninth Akahoshi walked and then stole second. He advanced to third on a wild pitch and it looked like Tigers were set for the victory. Nagakawa, though, was up to the challenge and got the final two outs to prevent the run. Kurihara had a hit off Williams in the 10th but nothing came of this. Likewise Tigers 10th where Kanemoto walked but was then caught up in a Toritani double play. Carp's eleventh innings was pitched by Egusa who walked Alex (replacement right) but he got the final out. At this stage it looked like the game was heading for a tie. Tigers eleventh started with Fujimoto (pinch hitter) grounding out. Yano hit and then Hirano hit to the pitcher. This was Aoki who attempted to turn a double play but ended up with runners on first and second. Akahoshi grounded out to move Yano to third which brought up Sekimoto. He hit and Yano was home 2-1 Tigers Sayonara victory.

A hard fought victory which the Tigers probably made a meal of. They should have finished the Carp earlier but wasted chances. Still they had secured the victory and kept their momentum.