May 5th Uezono v Chen - It finally happens.

At the sixth attempt of trying Tigers won a game at Nagoya Dome. Murton just missed the cycle (by a three base hit) but still had four hits and contributed enormously to the victory. Arai drove in four runs and looked much better than the day before. Dragons couldn't really get going though Uezono didn't have a brilliant start. Still he did enough to win the game. Scores

         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Tigers   1 2 0 3 0 1 0 0 2 9 13 0
Dragons  0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1  8 1

Starting lineups

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

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

Chen started poorly and continued that way. In fact there was a very good case for taking him out in the second innings but he managed to last four innings. Murton led off with a single. Yamato bunted and what followed was not attributable to Chen. The bunt was poor and Tanishige picked up and threw too high drawing Araki off second. Murton was safe as was Yamato on first. Chen then battled Toritani who after a long struggle induced a walk to load the bases with no out. Arai looked like he was in strikeout mode but then grounded out to second. This brought home a runner 1-0 Tigers, runners on second and third. Johjima and Brazell were in strike out mode and both fell swinging in what was a wasted chance. Tigers needed to hold the lead but Araki started with a hit. He was bunted to second by Iwasaki but then Morino flew out in foul ground to a nice catch by Fujikawa. Araki advanced to third on a wild pitch but this wasn't really important because he has the speed to make home from second anyway. Uezono didn't let this unsettle him and induced a foul fly out from Blanco to end the innings. Chen continued to pitch poorly. Fujikawa hit to right and was bunted to second by Uezono. Next batter was Murton who worked the count full before slamming a slider into the left stand, 2 run home run 3-0 Tigers. Yamato hit followed by Toritani to set up runners on first and second. Arai could only manage to hit into a double play to end the innings though. Wada led off Dragons second with a bang. A very nice hit proved to be a straight home run but fortunately for Tigers it was only a solo 3-1 Tigers. Two outs later Tanishige walked on a full count and in fact Uezono would find it impossible to do anything but walk the Dragons catcher. However, the final batter was Chen who duly grounded out to end the innings. In Tigers third Sakurai hit to centre with two out but nothing came of this. Uezono walked Morino in Dragons third and Blanco let go a huge swing which was actually a comfortable catch for Fujikawa - end of innings.

Tigers were recycling batters at a terrific rate. Uezono fell leading off the fourth and then Murton hit a two base. Yamato flew out but Toritani collected his second walk of the day to set up runners on first and second. The next batter was Arai who got hold of another Chen slider and put this neatly into the left stand for a three run home run 6-1 Tigers. Johjima grounded out but Tigers were in a commanding position. This continued in the fourth when with two out Nomoto hit to right centre bouncing the ball off the wall. He rounded second and continued for third only to be beaten by a superb throw from Sakurai. Arai applied the tag as Nomoto slid in head first and that was the end of the innings. Chen did not return for Tigers fifth which was pitched by Suzuki. He managed to avoid base runners and retired the batters 1-2-3. Tanishige walked again but Uezono was able to retire the next three batters. However, it took him quite a bit of work. For Tigers sixth Ochiai chose Shimizu who didn't look that comfortable. He faced Katsuragi (pinch hitter) as lead off and Katsuragi hit nicely to right for a two base hit. Then he walked Murton in four - his pitching being basically all over the place. Yamato hit to short which brought a fine diving stop from Araki who was only able to get the runner going for second. Tigers had runners on first and third. Yamato then stole second as Toritani struck out. Arai was a lot calmer now and when a wild pitch went through he didn't swing but motioned Katsuragi home 7-1 Tigers, runner on third. Arai then took a full count walk but Johjima grounded out to end the innings. Uezono didn't return for Dragons sixth, Mayumi probably judging rightly that he would have struggled against the Dragons clean up. Instead we saw Nishimura. He had to fight hard giving up a lead off hit to Morino. Blanco flew out but then Wada hit to set up runners on first and second. Both Ohshima and Nomoto were induced to siwng and strike out in some fine pitching by Nishimura reminiscent of his innings a few days ago against the Giants - end of that innings.

Shimizu pitched Tigers seventh as well and had an easier time of it retiring the batters in order. For Dragons seventh we saw Watanabe. He gave up a hit to Tanishige which brought up Tani (replacement second). He was lured into a 4-6-3 double play by a superb piece of pitching. Just to cap the display Watanabe struck out Araki looking to end a fine piece of pitching. Tigers eighth was pitched by Nagamine who started abysmally walking Kanemoto (pinch hitter) in four and never looking anywhere near the strike zone. Murton was next and the question was would he complete the cycle. Unfortunately not but he did manage a hit - runners on first and second with no outs. Yamato struck out and Toritani managed to ground out which moved Kanemoto round to third but then Arai flew out to end the innings. For Dragons eighth Mayumi summoned Kubota to the mound. Whilst one can understand the Tigers manager wanting to win this is surely a waste of an elite pitcher. It wasn't necessary to use Kubota at all. Kubota retired the batters in order, striking out Blanco swinging to end the innings. For Tigers ninth Ochiai chose Hirai who immediately gave up a hit to Johjima. A centre hit from Sekimoto (replacement first) followed and then Sakurai hit nicely into centre right for a two base hit. This of course brought home Johjima but Sekimoto showed great initiative to make home as well 9-1 Tigers, runner on second. The next three batters failed to bring Sakurai home with Murton lining out to first (still he was 4 from 5 with a walk). Tsuru pitched another acclimatization innings in Dragons ninth. Wada he induced to fly out but then Ohshima hit. Nomoto also flew out but Matsui (pinch hitter) hit to set up runners on first and second. Still only one more out to get and any runs that Dragons might score would only be consolation runs. In the event it was the out that came first - Koike (pinch hitter) striking out to end the innings. Tigers victory.

This was an overwhelming victory in which the Tigers had completely outplayed the Dragons. Finally, they had recorded their first victory at Nagoya Dome this season but they had done so in style. Still they do need to perform better in the future. Dragpons are beatable at home but the application needed to beat them was lacking for five games. Once they applied themselves, the result was never in doubt and Tigers power was too much for the Dragons. Getting the openings to apply this power will be the difficulty for the Tigers in future games. In this series of nine straight games Tigers won six and lost two with one postponed. This is very good play and one hopes for more in the future.