September 15th Andoh v Gonzalez - Yano's big hit

Firstly, team news: Shuta Tanaka, Tigers utility infielder and pinch runner will retire at the end of this season. Not really a regular team member he is currently playing in the ni-gun team. I can remember seeing his last career home run in 2004 against the Swallows at Jingu (he only ever hit three) but he was always a lightweight batter.

The last Tigers/Giants match up of the season at Tokyo Dome played to a packed stadium and was exciting and tense all the way. Tigers victory in this game was hard fought and well earned and came down the surprising success of Yano hitting a home run off Kroon. Very nice batting by the Tigers catcher who had a very good game in all respects. His counterpart, Andoh didn't and the surprising thing was that the Giants only managed to score three runs off him. This win put Tigers 1.5 games ahead of the Swallows and 2.5 games ahead of the Carp who also lost. A small gap has opened up between the sides and Tigers need to increase it further. Scores

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 R  H E
Tigers  0 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 0  0  2 5 13 0
Giants  0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0  0  0 3 11 1

Tigers
1. Nohara (Centre)
2. Hirano (Second)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Arai (Third)
6. Lin (Right)
7. Sekimoto (First)
8. Yano (Catcher)
9. Andoh (Pitcher)

Giants
1. Sakamoto (Short)
2. Matsumoto (Centre)
3. Ogasawara (Third)
4. Ramirez (Left)
5. Kamei (First)
6. Tani (Right)
7. Abe (Catcher)
8. Wakiya (Second)
9. Gonzalez (Pitcher)

Gonzalez's first few innings would be very good indeed and it looked like Tigers were going to struggle this game. In Tigers first he struck out two of the three batters. Andoh would struggle all through his pitching session and didn't really look comfortable at all even though Yano did what he could. Sakamoto led off the Giants first with a hit. A force out put Matsumoto on first with the double play not coming off. Matsumoto stole second as Ogasawara struck out but then Ramirez grounded out to Arai who had a great game at third. Tigers second was just like the first as the batters struggled to cope with Gonzalez. Giants second started encouragingly for Andoh as Kamei flew out in foul ground after just two pitches. But then his pitch count began to increase as he struggled to assert control. He walked Abe but then was able to induce Wakiya to ground out. Amazingly, Giants had only managed one hit. Tigers first hit came in their third, Sekimoto leading off to left. However, Yano immediately hit into a double play and then Andoh struck out to end the innings. With two out in the Giants third Matsumoto hit to left. Ogasawara then hit a huge two base which the speedy Matsumoto used to get round the bases to home 1-0 Giants runner on second and Ramirez next. Here Andoh did pitch well, striking out Ramirez to limit the damage.

Tigers hit back immediately, with two out in the fourth Toritani hit a two base to left which Ramirez failed to take (he is not a good left fielder). Gonzalez then started to feel the pressure and walked Kanemoto who used his at bat skillfully. Arai was next and he hit to Sakamoto who was standing rather deep. Sakamoto had to run back and then turn to make his throw and even though it was good and Abe blocked the plate Toritani was home 1-1 scores tied, runners on first and second. This was nice running by the Tigers short who had forced his way past Abe to touch the plate safely. Lin then grounded out to Sakamoto who made sure of the final out. The tie didn't last long as Andoh pitched what was possibly his worst innings. He started by walking Kamei and then gave up a hit to Tani, runners on the corners with no outs. Abe was next and he hit a huge sacrifice fly to right 2-1 Giants, runner on first. The next two batters fell to end the innings but Andoh had blown his colleagues hard work. In Tiger fifth Yano hit to centre but then Andoh tried to bunt him to second but was out to the three failed bunt rule. Finally, Nohara was out to end the innings. There was more trouble for Andoh in Giants fifth. Matsumoto led off with a hit to centre and then Ogasawara walked. Ramirez flew out to second but Kamei's ground out took Matsumoto to third. Tani was next and hit along the third baseline where Arai took a fine catch to end the innings. A lucky escape for Andoh. Tigers sixth started with Hirano flying out but then Toritani got hold of his first pitch and put it into the Tigers Gaia for a solo home run 2-3 scores tied. This unsettled Gonzalez who gave up consecutive hits to Kanemoto and Arai. Lin grounded out but moved the runners round and then Sekimoto hit nicely to centre driving in the run 3-2 Tigers. Arai also tried to make home but was nicely blocked by Abe and tagged out before he could touch the plate. The innings was over but Tigers had taken the lead. This didn't last long as Andoh contrived to lose it leaving a straightball in the zone for Abe to hit for a solo home run 3-3 scores tied. He then found it rather easy to retire the next three batters but had blown the hard won lead very casually.

Gonzalez returned for Tigers seventh and gave up a hit to Yano. Asai (replacement right) bunted him to second but Hiyama (pinch hitter) struck out and then Hirano grounded out to end the innings. Atchison pitched the Giants seventh, Mayumi having decided that six innings of Andoh was enough. He started by striking out Matsumoto and Ogasawara but then gave up a hit to Ramirez. With Kamei at the plate Ramirez tried to steal second - a suicide mission if ever there was one. He was thrown out with ease to end the innings. Tigers eighth was pitched by Yamaguchi, Gonzalez having reached his limit. He gave up a hit to Kanemoto who then stole second. The throw from Abe was poor and Kanemoto slid under the fielder to safety. He got no further though and the final batter Sakurai (pinch hitter) flew out. For Giants eighth Atchison returned and was unplayable. He got all three batters he faced to fly out with some brilliantly hostile pitching. Yamaguchi also pitched Tigers ninth and had no problems. Mayumi then had a problem, who to pitch for Giants ninth given that the match was likely to go into extra innings. He decided to go with Egusa. Egusa started well and Ohmichi (pinch hitter) fell easily. But then Takuya Kimura hit nicely to left, runner on, one out. Tani, though, hit straight at Arai who fired the ball to second for the innings ending double play.

Hara finally brought Kroon on in Tigers tenth. With two out he gave up a hit to Toritani and then battled Kanemoto who finally flew out to right. Mayumi then matched the move with Fujikawa for the Giants tenth. This was a straightforward innings with the batters falling in order including a fine strikeout of Matsumoto by the Tigers closer. Kroon then returned for the Tigers eleventh and you thought that here was a chance for Tigers to attack. Arai hit to short where Sakamoto got his glove on the ground ball but let it get past him. This was ruled an error but Sakamoto was standing rather deep and it is questionable whether he would have been able to make the throw if he had held the ball. Anyway Arai was safe on first and Kroon faced Yamato. He bunted Arai to second and then Sekimoto grounded out and Arai made third. Next batter Yano. His first pitch was a low slider and he latched onto this hitting powerfully to right. It looked a hit the moment it left the bat but it had just enough energy to clear the wall for a two run home run 5-3 Tigers and a huge blow. Kroon was furious with himself and gave up hit to Asai. Fujikawa was next in only his second at bat of the season. Asai stole second but really there was no chance that Fujikawa was going to do anything and he duly struck out to end the innings. Tigers were now in the driving seat but needed to clear the Giants eleventh. This meant another innings from Fujikawa and he started poorly. Kamei had a bounce hit over first - rather lucky and then Tani turned his first pitch nicely into left field. Giants had runners on first and second with no outs and Abe next. The Giants fans were in full song and the situation looked very menacing. Abe hit to centre lining out to Yamato who took the ball kneeling and then was up on his feet to toss the ball to Toritani and catch Kamei off base for the double play. A vital double play, Giants still had Tani on first but they now had a much more difficult job. With Ato Hittori and the Ato Ikyu in his ears Fujikawa calmly worked on Furuki (pinch hitter) and got him to strike out and end the innings. Tigers victory.

The game had been played at a fantastic pace and despite going eleven innings finished just past 9:30. It was a fine win for the Tigers who fought hard, took the lead and didn't give up against a strong Giants challenge. Yano had played a massive role and took a well deserved hero interview. The win went to Fujikawa who had had a bit of luck with the Abe out but overall the Tigers had clearly deserved their victory.