August 4th Kanemura v Miura - Kanemura still can't hold a lead

One of Kanemura's problems this season has been the inability to hold any form of lead. Okada believes that he relies on his forkball too much and needs to develop a competent fastball. This is often a problem with Pacific League pitchers who transfer - they often take a year to adjust to the Central League. Without Kanemura's meltdown Miura would have lost the game - his first innings would have cancelled out his later improvement. The Magic Number is 39 (CM 34). Line scores

         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Tigers   3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3  5 0
BayStars 1 1 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 6 11 0

Starting lineups

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

BayStars
1. Kinjoh (Centre)
2. Nishi (Second)
3. Uchikawa (First)
4. Yoshimura (Right)
5. Bigbie (Left)
6. Ishii (Short)
7. Aikawa (Catcher)
8. Ishikawa (Third)
9. Miura (Pitcher)

Miura's first innings did not match the rest of the match - he was abysmal and in fact you almost thought that it was just a continuation of the night before's game. He gave up a hit to Hirano and then walked Toritani. Hirano advanced to third on Kanemoto's flyout and then Sekimoto hit a home run 3-0 Tigers. Katsuragi flew out but the Tigers were off to a good start. BayStars pulled one of the lead back immediately. Uchikawa swung at his third strike which Noguchi failed to hold and scrabbled around for. Uchikawa made first safely and then the next batter Yoshimura hit a three base 3-1 Tigers. Bigbie grounded out and the innings was over. If Miura was Dr Jekyll in the first innings, he was Mr Hyde in the second. Noguchi did get a hit but that was all and he was thrown out trying to steal second. Kanemura though was still in Dr Jekyll mode. The first batter he faced was Ishii who got hold of a forkball and put it into the stand for a home run 3-2 Tigers. Tigers third and Toritani walked but nothing came of it. By now Kanemura seemed to have settled down and retired the BayStars in order striking out Kinjoh and Nishi.

Miura gave up a hit to Shoda in the Tigers fourth - nothing came of it. In BayStars fourth Ishii had a two base hit with two out but Aikawa struck out and the innings ended. Tigers were retired in order in the fifth with Miura by now in full flow. At the start of the BayStar's fifth Kanemura gave up a hit to Ishikawa. He was bunted to second by Miura and then Kinjoh flew out. Two outs and Nishi next - this was not a threatening situation. Instead Nishi hit - runners on first and third. Then Uchikawa hit 3-3 scores level runners on first and third. Next Yoshimura hit 4-3 BayStars runners on first and third. A wild pitch allowed Yoshimura to advance to second and then Bigbie hit 6-3 BayStars and Kanemura had blown a lead again. He retired at this stage and Egusa struck out Ishii for the final out. Miura retired the Tigers in the sixth getting all the batters to fly out. In BayStars sixth Ishikawa hit again but Egusa didn't panic and the final out came easily enough.

Tigers seventh saw Miura retire the side in order again. Watanabe pitched the BayStars seventh and ran into trouble but then showed how to get out of it. He gave up a leadoff two base to Nishi. Then he walked Uchikawa but the next three batters fell quickly and the BayStars batters stayed where they were. Hirano managed a hit off Miura in the eighth but that was all. Kubota took the BayStars eighth and gave up a leadoff hit - something he seems to do a lot these days. By the second out the runner had reached third but then the final batter Kinjoh flew out. The ninth was handed to Terahara who this time didn't fold and retired the Tigers batters in order. BayStars victory.

Miura had done well if one leaves aside the first innings. He had pulled himself together and established a dominance that the Tigers batters couldn't break. This wouldn't have mattered if Kanemura had pitched well and held the lead but he hadn't. He had been given a great start which he squandered.