June 7th Nohmi v Sugiuchi - The fourth win in a row

Tigers have strung together a four game winning streak, the first of Mayumi's management career. The game was tight throughout and the victory relied on Mahara's meltdown. Nohmi himself was not good, he was given a nice start but failed to hold the lead. The problems which manifested themselves in his previous years seem to be returning and he needs a bit of attention. In related news Kubota pitched his first game in ni-gun as a starter and went five scoreless innings. His return to the top team shouldn't be long delayed. Brazell also continued his great start with three hits, one of which was a scoring hit. Box scores

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

Starting lineups

Hawks
1. Honda (Second)
2. Kawasaki (Short)
3. Ortiz (Left)
4. Kokubo (First)
5. Tamura (Right)
6. Hasegawa (Centre)
7. Matsuda (Third)
8. Tanoue (Catcher)
9. Sugiuchi (Pitcher)

Tigers
1. Toritani (Short)
2. Akahoshi (Centre)
3. Sekimoto (Second)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Arai (Third)
6. Brazell (First)
7. Sakurai (Right)
8. Kanoh (Catcher)
9. Nohmi (Pitcher)

Both pitchers would start poorly. Honda hit Nohmi's second pitch of the game to left for a base hit. The obligatory bunt to second followed but the next out generated no movement. Nohmi walked Kokubo to add another runner but then got Tamura to fly out and end the innings. Sugiuchi was OK for the first two outs. Then he fell apart. He walked Sekimoto and then gave up a centre hit to Kanemoto, runners on first and second. Arai hit to left and Sekimoto was home 1-0 Tigers runners on first and second. Brazell was next and he hit to centre to drive in another run 2-0 Tigers runners on first and third. Sakurai worked the count full but then flew out to end the innings. What Tigers really needed here was for Nohmi to hold this lead. Unfortunately he didn't. Once again he gave up a lead off hit, this time to Hasegawa and one out later faced Tanoue. His third pitch, a slider, was punished severely being deposited in the left stand for a two run home run 2-2 scores tied. Not a good performance. The next two batters struck out and the innings was over but Hawks were back on even terms. Tigers second was quiet as Sugiuchi rediscovered his poise and retired the batters in order. Hawks third was quiet as was Tigers third, the pitchers being very much in control.

Hawks fourth was a bit more exciting. Hasegawa hit and immediately after Matsuda walked. A fly took Hasegawa to third but the final batter was Sugiuchi who grounded out, no Fukuhara style heroics for him. Tigers fourth followed a broadly similar pattern. This time Brazell hit, a two base. With two out Kanoh was deliberately walked to get at Nohmi as last batter and he flew out to short to end the innings. Hawks fifth was quiet as Nohmi retired the batters in order. In Tigers fifth Sekimoto had a two out two base hit but Kanemoto struck out and nothing came of that. Nohmi ran into problems in the sixth, facing Kokubo he left one in the zone and Kokubo put it over the fence for a solo home run 3-2 Hawks. Tamura followed up with a no out hit but then Nohmi was able to get the next three batters out without Tamura advancing. Sugiuchi needed to protect the lead against the Tigers counter-attack and he managed this but only just. Brazell had a one out hit and then Kanoh had a two base hit which put runners on second and third with two out. A great chance and of course Mayumi went with a pinch hitter, Takahashi. He flew out though and the chance was wasted.

Both pitchers retired at the end of the sixth innings. Neither had been particularly impressive and Sugiuchi's six innings had taken him 123 pitches which is too high. He did have the consolation that he retired with a lead. Nohmi had only thrown 106 pitches which is a lot better but he had given up the extra run on one fewer hits. Atchison replaced Nohmi for the Hawks seventh and with one out gave up a hit to Honda. Honda stole second and made third on a ground out but the final out duly came in and the innings was scoreless. Settsu took the Tigers seventh and gave up a one out hit to Akahoshi. He also stole second and one out later Kanemoto was deliberately walked to get at Arai. This worked nicely and the latter flew out to centre to end the innings. Atchison returned for the Hawks eighth and did very nicely retiring the batters in order, striking out two of them. Tigers eighth was pitched by Falkenborg, he also retired his batters in order. Hawks ninth was taken by Williams. At last he is looking more like his old self and concerns about him fading have been temporarily laid to rest. He retired the batters in order which left Mahara to pitch the Tigers ninth. Mahara was immediately in trouble. Lin (pinch hitter) led off with a vital hit. Toritani hit to right putting Hirano (pinch running for Lin) on third and himself on first. Akahoshi flew out but Hiyama (pinch hitter) walked to load the bases with just one out. Next batter was Kanemoto and this time Hawks couldn't walk him, they had to pitch at him. Mahara's first pitch was loose and Kanemoto cut it to right where it bounced luckily over Kokubo landing safe inside the field for a hit. Both second and third charged home, sayonara hit 4-3. Tigers victory.

A tight game in which both teams had matched each other. The victory went to Williams and here the relief pitchers, Atchison and Williams had been excellent, keeping Tigers in with a chance. This time as well Tigers had made good use of their big chance. Furthermore they had won a tight game.