September 17th Resop v Yamamoto - Yamamoto is flattened

This game the Tigers needed to win and they did so in style. Games between them and the Giants remain at 3 with the next two series of games being crucial to the Tigers pennant hopes. They play the Giants for a three game series and the BayStars for a four game series. Both series are must win situations. Toritani hit his first career grand slam and was the inspiration for victory. He also finished just one hit short of the cycle but drove in five runs. Line scores

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9  R  H E
Dragons 4 2 1 2 0 0 0 2 0 11 12 0
Tigers  0 0 1 3 2 0 0 0 0  6  8 1

Starting lineups

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

Dragons
1. Morino (Third)
2. Araki (Second)
3. Lee (Right)
4. Woods (First)
5. Wada (Left)
6. Koike (Centre)
7. Delarosa (Short)
8. Tanishige (Catcher)
9. Yamamoto (Pitcher)

This was not a game to remember fondly for Yamamoto. Like the day before Akahoshi hit. Hirano bunted him to second but then Yamamoto walked both Imaoka and Kanemoto in succession to load the bases. This brought up Toritani who later said he was looking for a sacrifice fly but hit the ball a little too well for a Grand Slam 4-0 Tigers. The Tigers previous Grand Slam was back in July by Sekimoto so this one was welcome. Sekimoto and Takahashi both grounded out and the Tigers were off to a great start. Resop started well - he retired the Dragons batters in order. Yamamoto's nightmare continued in the Tigers second. Yano led off with a hit. Resop was out after failing three bunts and Akahoshi grounded out. Hirano hit a two base to right and Yano used his speed to make home 5-0 Tigers. Lee's fielding was poor so Hirano advanced to third. This created a chance for Imaoka who hit to left 6-0 Tigers. Kanemoto flew out and the innings was over. Wada hit in the Dragons second but nothing came of this. In Tigers third Yamamoto walked Sekimoto with one out. Takahashi hit to set up runners on first and second and then Yano hit driving in Sekimoto 7-0 Tigers - runners on first and third. Resop struck out and Akahoshi flew out to end the innings. Finally in their third Dragons were able to mount some kind of response. Fujii (pinch hitter) hit a two base and Morino walked setting up runners on first and second with one out. Another out later Lee hit to centre and Fujii was home 7-1 Tigers runners on first and third but Woods grounded out to end the innings.

Yamamoto, of course, did not return for the Tigers fourth. He had been completely destroyed by the Tigers batting and hadn't had any response or control. He was replaced by Nagamine who had pitched well in the previous games of the series. Not this time - Hirano led off with a hit. Kanemoto hit to set up runners on first and second. Toritani hammered out a two base 8-1 Tigers - runners on second and third with one out. Next batter Sekimoto who launched a sacrifice fly 9-1 Tigers. Finally Takahashi flew out and the innings was over. Resop returned for the Dragons fourth but his pitching deteriorated drastically. He got the first out but then gave up a hit to Koike. Delarosa walked and then Tanishige hit a home run 9-4 Tigers and an indication of how poor Resop's pitching had become - Tanishige hadn't hit a single home run up until that moment. Hirata (pinch hitter) hit and Okada had had enough, Resop was replaced by Egusa who got the final two outs. He had not had enough to go beyond the fourth innings and maybe using him as a starter is not a wise idea. Shimizu replaced Nagamine for the Tigers fifth and was finally able to stem the Tigers run flow. He did walk Lin (pinch hitter) and Lin stole second but no one converted him and the innings was scoreless. Abe took over from Egusa for the Dragons fifth. He was not as good as the night before and with one out dead balled Woods. With two outs he faced Koike who got another of his lucky swings for a 2 run home run 9-6 Tigers. This seemed to wake Abe up and he struck out Delarosa to end the innings but the lead was now down to three runs and the Dragons were clawing their way back into contention.

Shimizu also pitched the Tigers sixth and with two outs gave up a three base hit to Toritani. He now had the home run, two-base and the difficult three-base and just needed a single for a cycle. Next Shimizu dead balled Sekimoto to set up runners on first and third. This was just stupid pitching and indicative of the Dragons pitching for the night. However, Takahashi struck out and the innings was over. With the lead down to three runs Okada went to his new star reliever Atchison who didn't disappoint. All three Dragons fell in order and the Dragons run flow stopped. Shimizu was replaced by Saitoh for the Tigers seventh and he kept the Tigers batters quiet. Atchison returned for the Dragons and once again was unplayable finishing by striking Woods out looking. For Tigers eighth Saitoh was replaced by Kobayashi who didn't do so well. With one out Imaoka walked which brought up Kanemoto. He slammed a home run to right 11-6 Tigers. Whilst the home run hadn't been essential it was most helpful and gave Tigers more of a cushion. Kanemoto is now on 99 RBIs. Toritani was next but grounded out to second - he wouldn't get the cycle this game. Finally Sekimoto flew out to end the innings. Williams replaced Atchison. He gave up a two out to Delarosa but had no problems with Tanishige who flew out to centre to end that innings. Tigers ninth was quiet - Hirai, the pitcher, did walk Hiyama but nothing came of this. Dragons ninth was pitched by Fujikawa - it wasn't a save situation (which Okada knows by now) but Okada did feel that the practice would be useful to keep him sharp. No problems as Fujikawa retired the batters in order - Tigers victory.

A fine victory built on very good offense 11 runs only took 12 hits. Dragons despite their fightback were never able to get back into the match and were crushed by a stronger side. Tigers won six out of the nine games they played in this nine game run which is much more encouraging. Kanemoto finally did something with the bat and even though it was not a clutch situation one can hope he builds on it as he has not been good recently.