June 27th Nohmi v Miura - It happens sooner than expected

In my previous post I postulated what might happen if the Tigers met a higher level pitcher than Walrond such as Miura. This game was the perfect illustration. Nohmi over seven innings was actually more efficient than Miura but Miura used the exta pitches to ensure that Tigers did not get on the scoreboard. Despite his seven extra innings though, BayStars almost contrived to blow the game with some very poor relief pitching. However, they were able to hang on to give Miura a well deserved win. Nohmi was actually superb for five of his seven innings but two were not up to standard and Tigers suffered. Tigers also outhit the BayStars but the Yokohama outfit made better use of their hits. Box scores

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

Starting lineups

BayStars
1. Yoshimura (Riught)
2. Nishi (Second)
3. Uchikawa (Left)
4. Murata (Third)
5. Saeki (First)
6. Kinjoh (Centre)
7. Fujita (Short)
8. Niinuma (Catcher)
9. Miura (Pitcher)

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

Nohmi threw two bad innings and BayStars first was one of them. He started by walking the leadoff batter, Yoshimura who was bunted to second by Nishi. Then Uchikawa hit confidently into centre and Yoshimura was home 1-0 BayStars, runner on first. Next batter was Murata who crushed his first pitch into the left stand for a two run home run 3-0 Tigers and a nightmare start for Nohmi. Saeki flew out and then Kinjoh hit. He tried to steal second but was thrown to end the innings. Tigers found themselves completely stymied by Miura. Sekimoto did manage a hit but then Arai and Kanemoto both struck out to end the innings. Nohmi's second innings was much better showing he had just had a poor start, however you cannot really afford these. He got the three outs striking out Niimura looking. Tigers second was also quiet as the batters fell in order. So to BayStars third and once again Nohmi faced the top of the batting order but this time was in control and the batters fell one, two, three. Good pitching but it should have happened in the third innings. Tigers third saw Nohmi hit to right. Akahoshi walked to set up runnerrs on first and second with one out and Miura was in trouble. However, he got the next two batters to fly out and escape the innings without damage and the three run lead intact.

BayStars fourth was quiet again as Nohmi dominated the batting. Tigers fourth did produce a Lin hit but nothing came of this. The BayStars fifth was the same, Nohmi pitching superbly and keeping the BayStars under his thumb. Miura matched Nohmi in the Tigers fifth also keeping complete control. Nohmi's attention wandered in the BayStars sixth and he gave up a leadoff hit to Yoshimura. Next batter Nishi bunted to Nohmi and Nohmi went for second but the throw was too late. This left runners on first and second with no outs. Uchikawa then bunted them round to seocnd and third and Mayumi decided to walk Murata to load the bases. Nohmi though had lost focus and followed by walking Saeki in four oshidashi 4-0 BayStars and bases still loaded with only one out. Some very unintelligent pitching here. Kinjoh grounded out to third which kept the runners on base and then Fujitia grounded out to Nohmi who this time made sure of the out to end the innings. BayStars should have made more of this chance and Nohmi had been lucky to escape the self generated mess with only one run damage. Tigers sixth saw the batting try to get some momentum going but run into the brick wall of Miura. With one out Arai hit and then Kanemoto which set up runners on first and second. This was as far as they went and Miura retired the next two batters to end the innings.

Nohmi perhaps surprisingly returned for the BayStars seventh and was back on focus. The batters fell in order without any problem. He would retire at the end of the innings having had a curates egg of a game. In Tigers seventh Toritani led off with a hit followed by a hit from Kanoh, runners on first and second with no outs, a sign Miura was tiring. Hiyama (pinch hitter) flew out and then Akahoshi hit to second grounding out Kanoh, Toritani made third and Akahoshi was on second. Akahoshi then stole second but Sekimoto flew out and the innings was over. Despite tiring Miura had held on and preserved the lead without giving up a run. This would shortly be highly significant. For BayStars eighth Mayumi chose Abe who gave up a hit to Murata with two out but then got Saeki to ground out and end the innings. For Tigers eighth Kizuka was summoned. He got Arai and then was switched for Kudoh in what must be one of the most unnecessary moves in a baseball game. Kudoh faced Kanemoto and was terrible. Kanemoto hit sweetly to right for a solo home run 4-1 BayStars. Next batter was Brazell who hit to centre and this brought up Takahashi (pinch hitter) who hammered Kudoh into right centre for a two run home run 4-3 BayStars and things looked dangerous. Kudoh was pulled for Kosuke Katoh who got the next two outs but the match was suddenly tight again. For BayStars ninth Williams took the mound and reverted to poor mode again. He got the first two outs and then faced Niimura, BayStars catcher and a lightweight batter. Williams second pitch was hit to left for a solo home run 5-3 BayStars. This was appalling pitching by Williams who handed the initiative back to the visitors. Even though they retained a one run lead, BayStars were vulnerable but the extra run gave them that extra filip and confidence and demotivated the Tigers as well. Williams then walked Ohnishi (pinch hitter) who stole second. Yoshimura walked to set up runners on first and second and then Nishi hit to third. Ohnishi went too far and was caught off base to end the innings but BayStars had the two run gap. Yamaguchi pitched Tigers ninth and with one out gave up a hit to Akahoshi. He stole second, his second steal of the night but Sekimoto grounded out weakly to the pitcher and then Arai struck out looking to end the game. BayStars victory.

Tigers pitching had lacked the vital focus at essential moments. Nohmi showed some great stuff but not consistently and Williams lacked focus when needed. BayStars had almost blown the victory in the eighth with the unnecessary switch to Kudoh but Niimura had given the extra they needed. Miura had worked hard and done well to hold off the Tigers batting and he thoroughly deserved his victory.