September 16th Iwata v Tohno - A superb match

How to describe this game? It was better than the previous night and really the Climax Series positions were irrelevant. This was an old-fashioned Tigers Giants clash with no quarter asked or given. Both starters were abysmal, Tohno lasted less than three innings and Iwata five. The latter gave up six runs and dead balled two Giants in some really appalling pitching. Hara replaced his pitcher, Mayumi didn't but it is difficult to say who made the right decision. Giants relievers couldn't cope with the Tigers fire and energy but their batters fed off Iwata's poor balls. Toritani and Asai were the keys to the eventual score driving in six runs between them and of course the elite relief which shut the Giants down. Scores

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

Starting lineups

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

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

Tigers first started with a bang. Asai facing Tohno hammered a solo home run to left 1-0 Tigers. Hirano hit and made second on the Giants error at left. He made third on Toritani's ground out and then Kanemoto hit a deep fly to centre. Hirano was safely home 2-0 Tigers and things looked very good. Tohno then dead balled Arai as his control began to desert him (not that he had much to start with anyway) but Lin grounded out to end the innings. Giants blasted back immediately as Iwata decided to compete with Tohno as to who could pitch the worse. He started with a hit to Sakamoto and then with one out walked Ogasawara. Ramirez hit a two base nicely to left 2-1 Tigers, runners on second and third. Kamei grounded out to first but Ogasawara didn't try for home which brought up Tani. He walked and next was Abe. Iwata fed him a nice hittable pitch which he duly pushed into centre driving in two runs 3-2 Giants, runners on first and third. Finally, Nakai grounded out to end the innings with Iwata having successfully wiped out the Tigers lead. Tigers second saw Tohno (or Bakatono?) dead ball Sekimoto. He tried to steal second on Kanoh's strike out but was thrown out. Iwata struck out to end the innings. Sakamoto hit in Giants second innings but nothing came of this. Asai then led off Tigers third with a hit. Hirano bunted him to second and then Tohno dead balled Toritani. This was trying Hara's patience. He let the pitcher get Kanemoto and then pulled him replacing him with Shota Kimura. Kimura immediately gave up a hit to Arai and Asai went for home. Matsumoto has a very good arm and the throw was perfect allowing Abe to block the plate and tag Asai as he charged in. Abe also held onto the ball and all in all it was a fine piece of catching. The innings ended with that out. With Tohno having gone you thought that maybe Mayumi should do the same but he kept Iwata on the mound which would prove costly. He started by dead balling Ramirez and there are some grounds for saying that Ramirez should have had the strike awarded against him as he made no attempt to avoid the dead ball but let it hit him on his back leg. Anyway he was on first and stayed there until Abe's at bat when Iwata dead balled him as well. Runners on first and second with two outs. Here Mayumi should have really replaced Iwata but seemed to be in frightened rabbit caught in headlights mode. Nakai was next and got a nice fat easy pitch to hit to left centre over Kanemoto who was in for the single. This drove in two runners 5-2 Giants, runner on second and it looked like the Giants were cruising to an easy victory. Kimura struck out looking and another good innings for the Giants had finished.

Tigers fourth was quiet as Kimura kept a nice firm hand on things. In Giants fourth, Iwata gave up another hit, to Sakamoto again. He was bunted to second and made third on Ogasawara's ground out and one had visions of more runs but this time Ramirez struck out looking to end the innings. Kimura returned for Tigers fifth and with one out got Asai to hit to second. The throw from Nakai was poor and Kamei was drawn off base, Asai was safe. Hirano hit nicely to centre and Hara decided a change in pitcher was in order. He picked Fujita who faced Toritani with runners on second and third. Toritani hammered his second pitch into the left stand for a three run home run 5-5 scores tied and the Giants lead gone in a flash. Kanemoto struck out but Arai hit to centre. Lin though flew out to short in what has been a disappointing series for him. Once again this would have been a good opportunity to replace Iwata but Mayumi sent him to the mound for the Giants fifth. With one out he faced Tani and the Giants right hit nicely to right on a 2-2 count for a solo home run. 6-5 Giants and back in the lead. Iwata managed to retire the next two batters but he had handed the initiative back to the Giants. For Tigers sixth the pitcher was Nomaguchi who ran into trouble facing Sekimoto. He had to stretch and swing at a pitch sending it towards left where it hit the wall and was about 20 centimetres from being a home run. Sekimoto though only managed to make first on this hit, it did bounce kindly for Ramirez but Sekimoto was too slow and should have reached second. Poor base running. Kanoh then bunted him to second - one thought unnecessarily but it worked. Hiyama (pinch hitter) struck out though, a really pathetic at bat and it looked like the Tigers chance of scoring was disappearing. Once again Asai entered the frame. His fourth pitch was hit hard to right centre curving away from Matsumoto's despairing dive. Sekimoto was home 6-6 scores tied, runner on third. Asai was a double away from the cycle. Hirano flew out and failed to convert. With Iwata out of the picture the question was who would Mayumi use? He chose Tsutsui who did well striking out his first two batters and then getting Matsumoto to ground out to second and end the innings.

Toritani led off Tigers seventh and slammed his second home run of the night. This time it went right 7-6 Tigers. It was interesting to see the reaction of the fans - with his previous one into the Tigers the ball was received with pleasure. With the second one it was received by Giants fans as if it was carrying the plague. Nomaguchi then walked Kanemoto but struck out the next three batters in a row. It would have been quite a good innings except that Nomaguchi had given up the lead. Atchison was the expected pitcher for Giants seventh but Mayumi chose Egusa who hasn't been too good of late. This game though he was on top form and retired the Giants cleanup in order without allowing a runner on base. Nomaguchi returned for Tigers eighth and with two out faced Asai. Would he get the cycle? Unfortunately not though he did hit. He then tried to steal second but was thrown out. Atchison made his appearance in Giants eighth and mowed through the lower levels of the Giants lineup. Like Egusa he struck out two. Toyoda pitched Tigers ninth and gave up a hit to Kanemoto but nothing came of this. Everything was now familiar, Tigers leading by a small margin and one innings to go with Fujikawa at the mound. He was at his best striking out all three batters he faced to end the innings. Tigers victory.

Tigers had not given up and had shown energy and application to draw level and then take the lead. The top relief had come through vitally stopping the Giants runners getting on base after the fifth innings. Tsutsui picked up the win - his first in the Central League and Fujikawa his 22nd save. Kanemoto recorded his 1400th hit but really isn't much of a force anymore. Asai and Toritani had shone and the Tigers short is really beginning to show how good he is. A fine victory which kept the margins between the Swallows and Carp the same as they both won as well. Mayumi's failure to replace Iwata had worked nicely but the relief have been the strong point in this series so far.