April 13th Nohmi v Fujii - Kodai breaks free

With two wins under their belts Tigers arrived at Tokyo Dome hoping for a third. The rotation for the three game series is Nohmi, Kubo and Fossom. Evidently, the coaches didn't like Kojima who is now sidelined. Fossom is considered worth a shot and it will be interested to see how he does. This game didn't go to plan - Nohmi pitched very poorly. In fact one wouldn't have suggested a win for the Tigers, 6-0 down in the sixth with their starter knocked out in three and facing the strongest team in the league. However, win they did in a quite incredible performance. Scores

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Tigers  0 0 0 0 0 5 0 4 0 9 11 1
Giants  2 1 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 7 12 0

Starting lineups

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

Giants
1. Sakamoto (Short)
2. Matsumoto (Centre)
3. Ogasawara (Third)
4. Ramirez (Left)
5. Abe (Catcher0
6. Chono (Right)
7. Kamei (First)
8. Edgar (Second)
9. Fujii (Pitcher)

Fujii was seeking revenge for his defeat at Koshien and is first win in Giants colours. He started poorly giving up a lead off two base to Murton. Sekimoto bunted Murton to third and it looked like a very good chance. However, Toritani lined out and Kanemoto popped one up to second. Tigers would waste three two base hits before the fifth. Giants were anything but wasteful. Nohmi was not sharp and it showed. Sakamoto led off with a hit to third. He was bunted to second by Matsumoto which brought up Ogasawara who launched into his second pitch sending it into the right stands for a two run home run 2-0 Giants. Ramirez hit a two base and it looked like the Giants were in for a big innings. However, Abe flew out to right and Chono struck out swinging. Tigers second wasted two base hit came from Arai who led off the top with a hit to left. Johjima lined out but a wild pitch to Arai to third with only one out. A perfect opportunity to counter attack only it didn't happen. Brazell struck out and Sakurai flew out to right - another chance begging. So far Fujii had done well and had kept the Tigers from exploiting their hits. One wishes one could say the same about Nohmi who gave up a lead off home run to Kamei in Giants second 3-0 Giants. The next three batters fell easily but the Giants were clearly in the driving seat. Tigers third was quiet as Fujii kept the batters under control. Nohmi's troubles continued - Matsumoto led off the innings with a hit. Ogasawara hit which put runners on first and third. Ramirez dug his first pitch out nicely for a centre hit 4-0 Giants, runners on first and second with no outs. Abe walked as Nohmi's control disappeared and the bases were loaded. Chono grounded out for the first out but then Kamei hit to centre and another runner was home 5-0 Giants, bases loaded. At this point Mayumi decided enough was enough - the game was turning into a massacre and Nohmi wasn't able to cope. Watanabe took the mound and faced Edgar. He watched as Watanabe scattered balls around the zone and walked - oshidashi 6-0 Giants, bases loaded. Finally, Fujii grounded out to second to end the innings with the Giants seemingly out of sight.

Tigers fourth started with a strike out of Toritani. His swing was half hearted and it looked as if the Tigers were about to give up. Kanemoto hit a double to centre which just evaded the glove of Matsumoto. Arai slammed one back at Fujii who held onto it and then Johjima hit his first pitch to third to end the innings. Watanabe returned for Giants fourth and was much better, retiring the batters in order. Tigers fifth saw Sakurai walk with one out. Watanabe was pinch hit for by Yano who took a swing at his first pitch and flew out in foul ground. It really was a careless shot and Yano should have done better. Murton grounded out to short without Sakurai having moved from first. Messenger pitched the Giants sixth and struck out two, the last one being Chono looking. As soon as he took the ball Johjima was up and off to the dugout but somehow Chono didn't think it was a strike. Actually, it was a superb pitch. So to Tigers sixth and of course Fujii returned. He started with a centre hit to Sekimoto but then this was nothing to worry about. Or at least it seemed that way. Toritani was next and he got hold of his second pitch hitting it with enough power for a two run home run to right 6-2 Giants. His first home run of the season. This shocked Fujii but Kanemoto flew out to centre for the first out. Next batter Arai who worked the count full and then swung beautifully at a low slider depositing it into the left stand for a solo home run 6-3 Giants. This was heady stuff and Hara decided that he had better put a stop to the rally. Fujii left the mound to be replaced by Kubo. He started nervously, trying to get Johjima to swing. Johjima wasn't swinging and walked in four. This brought up Brazell who hammered his first pitch into the right stand for a two run home run 6-5 Giants. Suddenly the game was alive again and the Giants lead had all but disappeared. Tigers were on fire and the Giants needed to hold onto their slender lead. Sakurai struck out and then Hiyama (pinch hitter) also struck out to end the innings. Tigers needed to prevent the Giants from re-establishing their lead and so Mayumi put Tsutsui on the mound. He had a rather tense innings which he handled well. He did walk Edgar but managed to keep him from advancing beyond first.

Kubo pitched the Tigers seventh with the noise from the Tigers fans building up to a crescendo but the innings was a bit of an anticlimax. To be sure Toritani got on base with a hit but Kanemoto flew out disappointingly to right to end the innings. Tsutsui returned for Giants seventh and immediately gave up a two base hit to Matsumoto. This was dangerous. He was bunted to third by Wakiya (replacement third) and at this point Mayumi decided to bring in Kubota. He had planed to use Kubota in the eighth but he needed to stop the run being scored. As it was Kubota couldn't do anything about it. The pitch to Ramirez was perfect, Ramirez' swing was poor and the ball bobbled along the infield inside the foul line. His hit was just weak enough to give Matsumoto the chance and this was by accident not design. Brazell ran in to take and the take was good but he isn't the fastest runner by a long shot. Matsumoto is probably the fastest runner in Japanese baseball at the moment and he flew along from third to slide in safely to home 7-5 Giants and a vital run added. Brazell threw to first to get Ramirez out but it had been fine work by Matsumoto. Abe hit to second and here Sekimoto failed to take - it was ruled a hit but it was also a poor piece of fielding by the Tigers second. It looked like the Giants were beginning to shift up the gears prior to establishing the win. It looked even more like that when Takahashi hit to centre to set up runners on first and second. However, Kubota looked unfazed and proceeded to get Kamei to ground out to first. He may not have been able to do anything about the run but he made sure that the innings wasn't going to get away from the Tigers - it had been very good pitching. Tigers still had a two run lead to overcome and Arai faced Toyoda to lead off the eighth. Arai is hot and this time he drew a walk. Johjima flew out but Brazell hit to right and there were runners on first and second. The next batter was Sakurai who apart from his opening games has been batting very poorly but still is a powerful batter. Toyoda's first pitch was loose and Sakurai stroked it beautifully into the left stand for a three run home run 8-7 Tigers! Toyoda exited to be replaced by Kaneto who struck out Kubota in one of his very occasional at bats. Murton was next and he swung at a low outside pitch which flew along the right baseline but stayed inside the foul pole for a solo home run 9-7 Tigers. Anyone wanting to see these runs take a look at the website 'Steve says kanpai' which has the youtube recording of them. Finally Sekimoto struck out to end the innings and Tigers had a decent lead. Kubota returned for the Giants eighth and struck out Edgar with a brilliant curve ball after quite a battle. Lee (replacement first) was next and grounded out to second. Sekimoto (moved to first) dived and was off base but Kubota was over to first to take the throw. The ball was fielded by Hirano who threw too high and Lee was safe. It could have been a costly error and Hirano does need to work on his throwing to first, it has been abysmal recently (I shouldn't have praised it in an earlier post). Mayumi decided to replace Kubota which was the correct decision, as he needed the pitcher to be fresh. Kyuji Fujikawa took the mound early and got he next two batters, Tigers were safe for the moment. Tigers ninth was quiet as Kaneto retired the batters in order. Fujikawa returned for Giants ninth with all to play for. He gave off a leadoff hit to Wakiya. Wakiya stole second as Fujikawa was striking out Ramirez. Fujikawa was superb - getting both the next two batters to fly out in foul ground and end the game. Tigers victory.

A fantastic game played in a fantastic atmosphere. Both sets of fans were noisy and both teams responded marvelously. All of Tigers runs were home runs and the batters responded superbly. Kubota and Fujikawa were at their best and kept the Giants from winning. Fujikawa picked up the 131st save of his career and is now No.1 on Tigers all time save list. The game was in doubt until the final pitch and even though the Tigers had the lead, Tani, the final batter could have taken it away. Tigers have now won three in a row for the first time. We must also give credit to Mayumi - his pitching changes this game worked perfectly.