July 13th Kanemura v Takahashi - Better batting wins the day

After their poor performance the night before, Tigers were under instructions to lift their game. They did this in the later stages of the match doing what they should have done before and hitting the Carp relief hard. Line scores

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

Starting lineups

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

Carp
1. Higashide (Second)
2. Akamatsu (Centre)
3. Alex (Right)
4. Kurihara (First)
5. Maeda (Left)
6. Soyogi (Short)
7. Ishihara (Catcher)
8. Kokubo (Third)
9. Takahashi (Pitcher)

Kanemura retired the Carp in order. Takahashi walked Akahoshi in the bottom of the first but nothing came of this. In the Carp second they were once again retired in order. Tigers second was better - Sekimoto led off with a hit. Then Toritani hit. The runners were bunted to second and third by Noguchi - maybe not the most sensible decision but a sacrifice fly was possible. Baldris was walked to get at Kanemura who duly struck out and the sacrifice fly chance disappeared. Akahoshi struck out and the Carp had avoided a dangerous situation. Tigers third saw Ishihara reach first on a Toritani error. One out later he was bunted to second by Takahashi. Higashide hit to set him up on third and then Akamatsu hit 1-0 Carp. The final batter was Alex who flew out with runners on first and second. Tigers third was quiet. Carp fourth saw Soyogi hit and with two outs he tried to steal second. Noguchi threw him out and the innings was over. Tigers fourth was also quiet. Likewise the Carp's fifth. Tigers fifth started with a Baldris two base hit. Kanemura bunted him to third and then Akahoshi hit 1-1 scores level. Hirano hit to drive Akahoshi to third. Then Arai hit a sacrifice fly 2-1 Tigers but Hirano tried to go to far and was tagged out - end of innings.

Kanemura failed to hold the lead and it was this innings which caused Kubo (pitching coach) to remark that he needed to lift his game to a higher level. Higashide led off with a hit. Akamatsu grounded out moving him to second and then Alex struck out. Kurihara hit 2-2 scores level. Here Kanemura almost went to pieces. Maeda and then Soyogi hit to load the bases. Kanemura was lucky that Kurihara hadn't tried for home. The final batter was Ishihara who flew out. Kanemura's inability to hold a lead is a big question mark over his future usefulness to the Tigers. In the bottom Kanemoto hit and was bunted to second by Sekimoto. Toritani walked but the next two batters did nothing and the innings ended without the scorer being troubled.

Kanemura was replaced by Kubota who only gave up a hit to Higashide but otherwise was sound. Takahashi continued into the Tigers seventh and retired the side in order. Kubota continued to pitch taking the Carp eighth. With two outs he gave up a hit to Amaya. Once again a Carp batter tried to steal second and was thrown out, this time it was Yano. Takahashi retired in the eighth. He had put in a creditable performance and had done well. Schultz replaced him and with one out walked Kanemoto. Kanemoto then stole second and Hiyama replaced Sekimoto but grounded out. Toritani walked and this brought up Katsuragi (pinch hitter). He hammered a three base Kanemoto and Toritani were home 4-2 Tigers. Next batter Baldris hit to drive in Katsuragi 5-2 Tigers. Yano hit but Baldris tried to go too far and was out. Tigers had seized the lead emphatically. Fujikawa pitched the Carp ninth and retired the batters in order in 10 pitches - Tigers victory.

This was a much improved performance which allowed the Tigers to take the series. Fujikawa recorded his 28th save and this one was straightforward.