June 26th Tsuru v Ishikawa - Nishimura fails

This time Swallows were able to turn the tables on Tigers and seize a late victory. There was more than an element of luck in the victory - Nishimura didn't pitch well and blew a tight game. Not that Mayumi was responsible for the loss - he put a good pitcher in and the pitcher failed to do his job. Swallows had a very good pitching display from Ishikawa but even so had given up a slender lead to a disciplined Tigers side. Tsuru was also impressive but did betray some inexperience by allowing Swallows to tie the game in the fifth. In what might be a sign that Mayumi is maturing as a manager - he was philosophical about the defeat and wasn't prepared to blame Nishimura for his poor eighth. Certainly, Iihara's home run had only just made it. Scores

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

Starting lineups

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

Swallows
1. Aoki (Centre)
2. Tanaka (Second)
3. Iihara (Right)
4. D'Antona (First)
5. Whitesell (Left)
6. Kawamoto (Catcher)
7. Miyamoto (Third)
8. Onizaki (Short)
9. Ishikawa (Pitcher)

Ishikawa would start well and Tigers first was scoreless without anyone making base. Tsuru would not start well but show good application to make sure that no one scored. He has come a long way since his disastrous first start against the Marines a couple of years ago. He started with a two base hit to Aoki. An out followed and then he walked Iihara. D'Antona's fly took Aoki to third but then Whtesell grounded out to second to end the innings. Tigers second saw Brazell walk but Ishikawa induced a double play from Johjima which ended the innings. Swallows second was quiet with Tsuru striking out two. Likewise Tigers third - so far Tigers had only had one runner on base and this was due to a walk - they had had no hits at this stage. Aoki walked in Swallows third and made second on Tanaka's ground out but that was all. The game was tight and everyone was waiting to see who blinked first.

No one blinked in the fourth. Murton had Tigers first hit but that was all. In Swallows fourth Kawamoto hit and made second on a wild pitch but then Tsuru struck out Miyamoto looking to end the innings. Finally, in Tigers fifth Swallows blinked. Brazell led off the innings with a hit. A wild pitch took him to second but Johjima struck out. However, Asai hit nicely to left bringing the runner home 1-0 Tigers, runner on first. Yamato grounded out which moved Asai round to second but the last batter was Tsuru who also grounded out, this time to end the innings. Having taken the lead, Tigers blinked. The irony was that Tsuru got the first two outs and needed just one more which proved elusive. Aoki took a wild swing and somehow connected sending the ball to left for a two base hit. Tanaka walked which brought up Iihara. He hit nicely to right centre bringing Aoki home 1-1 scores tied, runners on second and third. D'Antona was next and he flew out to centre to end the innings. Tigers sixth was quiet with the batters falling in order. Normal service had been re-estabished. In Swallows sixth, Kawamoto hit and then tried to steal second. Johjima made sure that this was not an option with a great throw to get the runner. Finally, Miyamoto flew out in foul ground to end the innings.

Ishikawa returned for Tigers seventh and walked Arai. He then struck out Brazell at which point Ogawa decided it was time for a pitching change. Masabuchi took the mound and immediately made the whole decision rather questionable. He gave up a left hit to Johjima and another hit to Lin (pinch hitter) to load the bases. Tigers were in with a chance and here Mayumi sent in Kanemoto for his pinch hit appearance. Kanemoto struck out swinging and one thinks that his appearance might have been better off in a less important situation. Masabuchi though wasn't going to forgo his chance of screwing things up and he unleashed a wild pitch. This brought a Tigers runner home 2-1 Tigers, runners on second and third. The next batter was Hiyama (pinch hitter) but he managed to strike out looking to end the innings. Still the Tigers had the lead. For Swallows second Mayumi sent Kubota to the mound. This was a sound decision and didn't attempt to overpitch Tsuru. Kubota struck out Onizaki but walked Guiel (pinch hitter). However, Kubota was in his non-panic mode and his second pitch induced a nice double play from Aoki to end the innings. At this stage it looked very much like a Tigers victory was on the cards. Only two innings to go with the ninth to be pitched by Kyuji Fujikawa. Matsuoka pitched Tigers eighth and did very well making sure that the Tigers didn't add any runs. This brought up Nishimura for Swallows eighth. As I mentioned he wasn't good and in fact hasn't been pitching well recently. He started with a hit to right for Tanaka. Then he faced Iihara who managed to get enough bat on the ball for it to head off towards right centre where it just cleared the fence for a two run home run. Lucky - as Iihara himself acknowledged after the game but they all count 3-2 Swallows and the game turned round. This was not so serious as a one run lead is overturnable. D'Antona grounded out and Nishimura faced Whitesell. Another poor pitch followed and Whitesell hit this over the fence for his first home run in Japan 4-2 Swallows and now they had a bit of a cushion. Beginners luck maybe but Nishimura had to be replaced and Uezono took the mound for the final two outs. These proved to be Kawamoto and Miyamoto. Of course, Swallows pitcher for the ninth was Lim. He had no trouble retiring the batters in order. Swallows victory.

This game ended Tigers streak of double digit hits and apart from Nishimura had been handled well. If Nishimura had gotten out of the eighth innings without damage we would have seen Kyuji Fujikawa retire the Swallows batters in order for a Tigers victory. This was not to be and Swallows despite their luck had earned their victory. They had played as well as the Tigers and in fact had played better than they had for a long time. It just wasn't Tigers day.