April 23rd Fossum v Chen - Tigers beat Chen

For completeness sake here is the first of the two Dragons games, Tigers won. A good result with a confident side able to overwhelm the difficult to beat Dragons. Fossum picked up his first win in Japan with some very nice pitching. Scores

         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Dragons  0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 7 1
Tigers   0 0 0 2 5 0 0 0 X 7 8 0

Starting lineups

Dragons
1. Araki (Short)
2. Ibata (Second)
3. Morino (Third)
4. Blanco (First)
5. Wada (Left)
6. Nomoto (Right)
7. Cesar (Centre)
8. Tanishige (Catcher)
9. Chen (Pitcher)

Tigers
1. Murton (Centre)
2. Yamato (Second)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Arai (Third)
5. Johjima (Catcher)
6. Brazell (First)
7. Sakurai (Right)
8. Kanoh (Left)
9. Fossum (PItcher)

Fossum would start well but did issue a walk to Morino in Dragons first. However Blanco struck out and the innings was scoreless. Chen also started well and in fact looked like he would continue to dominate the Tigers. In the first the batters fell in order. The second was quiet all round with no one making base. Fossum ran into trouble in the Dragons third. He struck out the first two batters but then Araki hit. He stole second which gave Ibata the chance to drive the runner home and he duly did so 1-0 Dragons runner on first. Morino also hit to set up runners on first and second and then Blanco picked up a walk on a full count to load the bases. The next batter was Wada who is basically the Dragons final reliable batter. He was lured into striking out swinging and the innings was over. Tigers third followed the pattern of the previous two innings with no one getting on base and in fact Tigers hadn't had a runner yet.

Dragons fourth saw Tanishige walk with two out but this wasn't anything to worry about as the next batter was Chen. He struck out looking. So far Chen had been dominant but this was all about to change in Tigers fourrh. With two out Toritani hit to Araki and was able to beat the throw. Arai hit to centre and was able to make second on the throwing error with Toritani on third. Johjima hit to left bringing home both runners 2-1 Tigers, runner on first. Brazell though grounded out and the innings was over. Fossum did well in holding the lead walking Morino with two out in the Dragons fifth but getting Blanco to strike out. Mayumi would decide that five innings was enough and employ a pinch hitter in Tigers fifth. Indeed Fossum and thrown 97 pitches in his five innings of work and had done quite well. Tigers fifth started with two outs but then said pinch hitter (Sekimoto) drew a walk. This seemed to cause Chen a lot of trouble. Murton hit to right centre, a two base hit which Sekimoto turned into a run 3-1 Tigers, runner on second and fine running by Sekimoto. Yamato hit to short to set up runners on first and third.Toritani walked to load the bases which brought up Arai. He hit over right for a bases clearing double. 6-1 Tigers runner on second. Johjima swung at his third strike and set off. The throw was poor and he was safe on first. Importantly, Arai took the chance to make home safely 7-1 Tigers. Finally, Brazell flew out but Tigers had a commanding lead. With the Dragons though, this cannot be relied on. Andoh had thrown just such a lead away in a previous match and so Tigers pitching needed to be sharp. Sharp it was as Nishimura pitched the Dragons sixth and made sure no one reached base. Tigers sixth was pitched by Shimizu, one of those reliable relief pitchers the Dragons seem to have an endless supply of. He retired the batters in order.

In Dragons seventh Standridge took the mound for an acclimatization innings. He gave up a centre hit to Araki with two out which the Dragons short was able to reach second but then Ibata struck out swinging to end the innings. Tigers seventh was pitched by Nagamine who had to work hard. Murton led off with a hit and then Arai hit to short to set up runners on first and second. This time Johjima failed to convert and Nagamine could breathe a sigh of relief. Dragons chances were fast running out and they needed to do something. Kawasaki pitched the top of the eighth and gave up consecutive hits to Wada and then Koike (replacment left). Fujii (pinch hitter) was next and he struck out looking to a very nice piece of pitching from the Tigers southpaw. Tigers eighth was pitched by Kobayashi who retired the batters in order. For Dragons ninth Mayumi sent Watanabe to the mound. He gave up a two out hit to Araki but was otherwise secure and got the final out for the victory. Tigers victory.

The Tigers have been playing better since Kanemoto withdrew from fourth and one feels that his presence must have inhibited the side to a large degree. Arai had filled the role of fourth very nicely and looks less nervous. The same goes for the other batters who are able to hit and hit well. Whilst it will not happen all the time this is a side which has the capacity to take apart any attack in either league if they put their mind to it.