September 10th Fukuhara v Tateyama - Sayonara, Tigers do it again

Another big win - this pushed the Magic Number to 18 (CM is 11) as the Giants lost to the Dragons in Nagoya. The games between the two sides are now up to six. Tigers showed great strength of character in holding the Swallows with some very poor pitching (Fukuhara, Egusa and Kubota). The Swallows were also poor - they hammered out 15 hits for only 3 runs. Heroes of the night were Atchison and Katsuragi both of whom made crucial contributions. Atchison once again stopped the Swallows momentum and Katsuragi created the winning run. Tigers also collected another dubious first - Sekimoto now holds the Central League record for the number of dead balls in a game - 3. These though proved to be vital. Line scores

         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8  9 R  H E
Swallows 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0  0 3 15 0
Tigers   3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1x 4  9 0

Starting lineups

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

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

Andoh was replaced by Katsuragi just before the start of the game. This would prove to be an inspired choice. Fukuhara started as he meant to continue, dreadfully, but amazingly only gave up one run. With one out he gave up a hit to Miyamoto - runner on first. This turned into runners on second and third with an Aoki two base hit. Hatakeyama grounded out to Hirano who kept the runners on base. Then Fukuhara unleashed a wild pitch but great fielding and hesitation by the Swallows runners prevented the run being scored. Fukuhara though wasn't finished and walked Iihara to load the bases. Finally Tanaka grounded out and the Tigers could breathe again. With this kind of pitching Tigers decided they needed some insurance. Akahoshi led off with a hit and was bunted to second by Hirano. Sekimoto collected his first dead ball of the evening and then Kanemoto hit to right centre, a two base 1-0 Tigers runners on second and third. Toritani hit a deep fly to centre and Sekimoto tagged up and was home 2-0 Tigers. Next batter Katsuragi who drove one to right to put Kanemoto home 3-0 Tigers. Kanemoto rounded third and slid home comfortably showing no ill effects from his collision of the night before. Katsuragi though tried to go to far and was tagged out ending the innings. Fukuhara started his second innings with a hit to Kawashima but then the next batter hit into a double play. The third batter of the innings grounded out to Fukuhara and the innings was over. Tigers second was also quiet with Tateyama being in control. The Swallows third was where Fukuhara's pitching went haywire - he had trouble locating his pitches and all the hits he gave up were to centre. Fukuchi led off with a centre hit and tried to steal second. He was thrown out by Yano and should have waited as Miyamoto hit to centre. Aoki also hit to centre - runners on first and third with only one out. Hatakeyama walked to load the bases and then Iihara hit to centre 3-1 Tigers - bases loaded. For variation Tanaka tried to hit to short but hit into an innings ending double play. This was Tanaka's second failure with bases loaded. In Tigers third, for a bit of variation Sekimoto walked but nothing came of this.

With two out in the Swallows fourth Fukuhara walked Tateyama and then gave up a hit to Fukuchi. Runners on first and second with Miyamoto next. He grounded out and the innings was over. By now Okada's nerves must have been in shreds and you were praying that this was Fukuhara's last innings. Toritani led off the Tigers fourth with a two base hit. A Katsuragi ground out moved him round to third and Tateyama was able to get Asai to ground out to short and keep the runner on base. The next batter was Yano and given his home run of the night before Tateyama didn't want to face him and so he walked. This brought up Lin (pinch hitter and replacement right) who also walked to load the bases. Finally Akahoshi was next and he flew out to right to end the danger. Egusa replaced Fukuhara for the Swallows fifth but if Okada was hoping for some relief he was to be sadly disappointed. Egusa walked Aoki and he stole second. Hatakeyama struck out swinging and then a wild pitch moved Aoki round to third. Tigers pitchers really do throw too many of these at inopportune moments. Still Egusa struck out Iihara and it looked like things were under control. Then he managed to dead ball Tanaka. The next batter was Kawashima who hit and Aoki was home 3-2 Tigers runners on first and third. Finally, Fukukawa flew out and the innings was over with the lead now very shaky.

In Tigers fifth Sekimoto collected his second dead ball but nothing came of this. Egusa returned for the Swallows sixth and continued in the same vein as before. With one out he gave up a hit to Fukuchi who stole second. Then Miyamoto hit and Swallows had runners on first and third. Aoki he got to fly out in foul ground but Okada had had enough and Watanabe took the mound. He started by walking Hatakeyama to load the bases but Iihara grounded out to the ever reliable Hirano. Tigers sixth saw Yano hit but with no result. So to the Swallows seventh and how would Kubota (for he was the pitcher) fare. He was poor - and once again demonstrated his inconsistency. A lead off hit to Tanaka was the first move he made. Kawashima bunted Tanaka to second and then Kubota unleashed a pass ball. As I said this happens too often at inopportune moments. Tanaka of course moved round to third. Takeuchi (pinch hitter) struck out but Yuichi (pinch hitter) hit and Tanaka was home 3-3 scores level. Swallows had done very well to draw level given their inability to convert runners. Fukuchi hit and then Miyamoto walked to load the bases. Aoki though flew out to Yano and the innings was over. Tateyama retired after this innings - he hadn't pitched too well but had managed to limit the damage to three runs. His replacement was the villan (if you're a Swallows fan) of last night, Oshimoto.

Oshimoto did quite well - he retired the Tigers in order in the seventh and stopped the counter attack. Atchison took over from Kubota for the Swallows eighth and was magnificent. The Swallows batters who previously had been able to get runners on base at will couldn't do anything and were retired in order. Oshimoto returned for the Tigers eighth and wasn't so assured. With two out he gave up a hit to Katsuragi. Then Hiyama (pinch hitter) hit and Tigers had runners on first and second. Yano was next and he was walked to load the bases. Lin followed and as is his pattern with loaded bases failed to convert the runners and the innings was over. For the Swallows ninth Okada turned to Fujikawa. He got the first out and then gave up a hit to Shida. Shida tried to steal second and was thrown out leaving Fujikawa to get Kawamoto (replacement catcher) to ground out and end the innings. For Tigers ninth Matsuoka was chosen. He started with a lead off hit to Akahoshi. Hirano didn't bunt but flew out in foul ground. Matsuoka then dead balled Sekimoto with a pitch which was a little too inside - a very foolish pitch. Kanemoto struck out but Toritani hit to load the bases. This brought up Katsuragi. In this sort of situation the temptation is to swing at the ball and try to get it through the field. It actually takes considerable nerve to wait and make the pitcher make the mistakes. This is what Katsuragi did - he took one strike but worked the balls full and then watched as the fifth pitch sailed below his knee for a fourth ball. 4-3 Sayonara walk in - Tigers victory.

Tigers had shown considerable strength in holding on and in winning the game. This was their first series win for a long time - in fact since they swept the Carp. It was a close match but the Tigers had the extra when it counted. Fujikawa picked up the win for his sixth.