September 23rd Kubo v Glynn - Arai saves Tigers blushes

Iwata apologised to his teammates for his poor pitching in the match before. However, this victory was based on a poor performance by the BayStars pitcher Glynn who was overwhelmed early in the match. Tigers were looking at a sweep and losing third place but instead they ended up staying in third though only half a game ahead of the Swallows who beat Carp. Tigers will take on Chunichi for their next series in Nagoya and may even win this series given that the Dragons have nothing left to play for. The Giants won the Central League pennant for the third year in succession - something Tigers management might want to think about in choosing future managers. Scores

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

Starting lineups

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

BayStars
1. Kinjoh (Centre)
2. Fujita (Second)
3. Uchikawa (Left)
4. Murata (Third)
5. Saeki (First)
6. Yoshimura (Right)
7. Yoshimi (Short)
8. Takeyama (Catcher)
9. Glynn (Pitcher)

Yoshimi was replaced by Ishikawa before the start of the match

Glynn was not on form and was made to pay for it very badly in his two innings. Asai hit to right and then Hirano hit a two base to put runners on second and third. Toritani walked to load the bases and BayStars were in trouble. Kanemoto struck out looking but Arai hit to centre driving home 2 runs 2-0 Tigers, runners on first and third. Sekimoto flew out but importantly Sakurai put a two base over the head of Kinjoh driving in more runs 4-0 Tigers, runner on second. Arai showed good speed round the bases to make home. Glynn dead balled Kanoh and finally was able to get Kubo to ground out to end the innings. Kubo then made sure that BayStars did not get anywhere near the score by retiring the BayStars batters 1-2-3. Glynn ran into more trouble in Tigers second walking Hirano. Toritani hit to left but this time Kanemoto flew out. This brought up Arai who hit again driving in Hirano 5-0 Tigers, runners on first and second. Then Sekimoto who missed out the innings before hit to right and Toritani was home 6-0 Tigers, runners on first and third. This time Sakurai flew out to end the innings but it was also the end of Glynn. He would not return for a third. BayStars first hit came in their second - Murata led off with a two base. He made third on Saeki's flyout but Yoshimura grounded out to Kubo preventing the run. The final batter was Ishikawa who struck out swinging. Kentaro Kuwahara took the mound for Tigers third and (from the BayStars point of view) immediately brought a bit of sanity to proceedings retiring the batters in order. Kubo once again retired the BayStars batters in order in their third to end the innings.

Hirano led off Tigers fourth with a hit but Kuwahara was able to retired the following batters and the Tigers second did not advance beyond first. Uchikawa walked in BayStars fourth but also didn't get beyond first. Tigers fifth saw Sakurai hit but then Kanoh hit into a double play and the innings was over. BayStars finally made an impact in their fifth. Yoshimura managed a hit. Two groundouts followed which took him to second. Shimozono (pinch hitter) was next and he hit to right and Yoshimura was home 6-1 Tigers, runner on first. Kinjoh hit to second but Hirano couldn't make the throw in time and BayStars had runners on first and second. Fujita followed and hit to short. This should have loaded the bases but the runner going for home was caught and tagged out and the innings was over. Kudoh despite the fact that he will leave BayStars at the end of the season is still being used and he pitched the Tigers sixth. He gave up a hit to Kubo who was then caught up in an Asai double play. Hirano hit and Toritani walked but Kanemoto once again failed to convert and the innings was scoreless. Kubo himself returned for what would be his final innings and ran into more problems. He started with a leadoff hit to Uchikawa but then retired the next two batters comfortably. Then he unaccountably issued back to back walks to Yoshimura and Ishikawa to load the bases. Johnson (pinch hitter) was next and he drove a loose pitch to right bringing two runners home 6-3 Tigers, runners on first and third. The final batter was Morikasa (pinch hitter) who flew out to centre to end the innings.

Takasaki pitched Tigers seventh and needed a lot of luck to survive. He started with a lead off hit to Arai. Sekimoto then hit into a double play. Sakurai walked but was then extinguished by a Hiyama (pinch hitter) double play. Mayumi had decided to switch catchers and brought Yano on. Tigers pitcher for BayStars seventh was Atchison who managed successfully enough, giving up a hit to Fujita but preventing it from developing further. Takasaki got the first two batters in Tigers eighth to fly out and then was replaced by Takamiya who got the third out to finish the innings. Atchison continued in BayStars eighth and was dominant getting the batters to ground out 1-2-3. Tigers ninth saw Kanemoto walk with one out which brought a pitching change. Takamiya was replaced by Sanada who got the final two outs to end the innings. For BayStars ninth, Fujikawa took the mound. He gave up a two out hit to Kinjoh but this was never likely to result in a score and so it proved. The very next batter, Fujita, struck out looking to end the innings. Tigers victory.

A valuable victory for the Tigers who had looked all at sea in their previous two matches. Kubo picked up his eighth win and Arai's hitting streak continued. The save was Fujikawa's 23rd and Tigers pitching had held out nicely. Of course without the poor start by Glynn the game might have been different as Kanemoto was off form and the BayStars relief had been quite effective in keeping the Tigers runners from scoring. Some good work by Tigers to take advantage of their chances early in the game and hold the lead.