June 23rd Standridge v Stults - Murton powers on

Tigers run of producing double digit hit games continues. Once again the batting proved too powerful for the Carp who are really out of sorts without Kurihara. Lacking power and pitching, they are the perfect example of where a failure to spend on talent will take you. Standridge pitched very nicely apart from the fourth innings. Brazell's home run streak ended this game but he still drove in runs which was very welcome. Tigers now have a day off before their next series. Scores

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Tigers  1 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 4 9 15 0
Carp    0 0 0 2 0 0 1 1 0 4  8 1

Starting lineups

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

Carp
1. Higashide (Second)
2. Soyogi (Short)
3. Shima (Left)
4. Huber (First)
5. Hirose (Right)
6. Akamatsu (Centre)
7. Ishii (Third)
8. Ishihara (Catcher)
9. Stults (Pitcher)

Tigers first followed the pattern of the previous game. Runners getting on base and a run following. This time it was Toritani supplying the hit and getting to second on Hirano's ground out. Murton then hit to left but could only set up runners on the corners. Arai hit his first pitch to third which was sufficient for Toritani to make home 1-0 Tigers, runner on second. Brazell then struck out swinging as he went for his seventh homer in a row. Standridge started very well indeed. He got the first two outs but then gave up a two base hit to Shima. However, the next batter, Huber, who has looked at of sorts in this series struck out to end the innings. Carp's pitcher, Stults continued to pitch poorly in Tigers second. He walked Asai who then stole second on a delayed steal. Sakurai flew out to centre which provided the second out but moved Asai round to third. Standridge should have supplied the third out but in a reversal of the night before Stults walked the Tigers pitcher. Toritani then hit to left which brought Asai home 2-0 Tigers, runners on first and second. Hirano hit to right to load the bases and then Murton hit nicely to left to bring home two more runners 4-0 Tigers, runners on first and third. Finally Arai flew out to centre but Tigers were now in control. Standridge then helped the cause no end by retiring the batters in order in Carp's second. Stults, after his poor first two innings was much more assured in the Tigers third. Johjima did hit to centre but Asai grounded into a double play to end the innings. Carp's third was quiet and they were having trouble generating any momentum.

Sakurai led off Tigers fourth with a hit and was bunted to second by Standridge. Both Toritani and Hirano failed to move him round this time and the innings was scoreless. Carp's fourth, meanwhile, was Standridge's only blemish. He also gave up a lead off hit, this time to Soyogi. No problem but then he walked Shima. This was a bit more worrying and became even worse when he walked Huber to load the bases with no outs. Next was Hirose who hit a sacrifice fly to right 4-1 Tigers, runners on first and third, Shima having tagged up and moved round. Akamatsu also hit a sacrifice fly to right 4-2 Tigers, runner on first. Ishii grounded out to end the innings but despite scoring two runs you somehow felt that the Carp had rather wasted the opportunity. In Tigers fifth Brazell had a two out hit but this didn't result in anything. In Carp's fifth the two out hit went to Higashide but nothing came of this either. Tigers sixth was quiet and you had to say that after the first two innings, Stults had done quite well. Shima led off Carp's sixth with a hit but drifted too far off base and was picked off - fine work by Tigers. The rest of the innings was conventional with no one getting on base.

Stults returned for Tigers seventh and this was an innings too far. Toritani hit to left. Hirano bunted him to second and then Murton hit a two base to left. Toritani was home 5-2 Tigers, runner on second. Arai grounded out to Stults which took Murton to third but then Brazell grounded out to first to end the innings. Mayumi didn't attempt to pitch Standridge in the seventh taking note of his pitcher's limits. This time he went with Kubota who had pitched two innings the night before and wasn't at his sharpest. With one out Kubota gave up a hit to Ishii. A wild pitch took Ishii to second and then Ishihara walked. This was not good and got even worse when Higashide hit a two base to left centre with two outs 5-3 Tigers, runners on second and third. Kubota stayed cool and struck out Soyogi to end the innings. Ueno took Tigers eighth retiring the batters in order and striking out Kanemoto on his obligatory appearance. Nishimura pitched Carps eighth and wasn't good. He started with a two base hit to Shima as Carp tried to up the ante. Huber he struck out but then Hirose managed a two base hit to left centre 5-4 Tigers, runner on second. NIshimura then struck out the next two batters but things were a bit too close for comfort. Of course, Kyuji would have saved the game but one didn't necessarily want to be in that situation. Ueno was replaced by Ohshima for Tigers ninth. He wasn't good at all. Yamato (replacement second) led off with a hit. Toritani slammed a two base - Yamato was quick enough to get home 6-4 Tigers, runner on second. Hirano bunted Toritani to third and then Nomura switched pitchers. His chosen replacement, Kishimoto didn't signal any improvement in quality. He gave up a hit to Murton which brought Toritani home 7-4 Tigers, runner on first and the scoreline was comfortable again. Arai banged his third pitch into right field for a two base hit - runners on second and third. Brazell hit to left to plate both runners 9-4 Tigers, runner on first. Then Johjima flew out and Shunsuke Fujikawa flew out to end the innings. Tigers were back in command and instead of Kyuji we saw Uezono. He seems to like pitching in situations with a lead but he was pitching to a beaten side. The first two batters struck out and then Higashide grounded out to second to end the game. Tigers victory.

Tigers had been too strong. They had had a good pitching performance from Standridge and had built on that. They had also been able to raise the pace when needed against an abject Carp side. Murton drove in four runs, Toritani two and Brazell two. Once again the relief had been good though Nishimura does need to tighten up a bit. Mayumi had had handled his pitchers well and hadn't tried to push Standridge to go to far. Tigers can leave Yonago with happy memories but Carp without Kurihara look rather exposed.