July 2nd Kubo v Gonzalez - Hotting up

The reason most supporters prefer the Central League to the Pacific League is the old rivalry between Tigers and Giants which generates incredible games like this. Of course the Pacific League has games like this too but they don't have the extra edge which makes these games special. Kubo wasn't good this time - it was one of his off days. It was also a chance for the leaders in the home run race to face off (Brazell, Ramirez and Abe) and two of them hit home runs. Scores

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9  R  H E
Tigers  0 0 0 0 0 0 6 2 2 10 17 2
Giants  0 2 0 2 0 0 3 0 1  8 11 3

Starting lineups

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

Giants
1. Sakamoto (Short)
2. Matsumoto (Centre)
3. Ogasawara (Third)
4. Ramirez (Left)
5. Abe (First)
6. Chono (Right)
7. Wakiya (Second)
8. Tsuruoka (Catcher)
9. Gonzalez (Pitcher)

Gonzalez would start confidently, getting Toritani to ground out. Hirano hit to short and beat the throw of the replusive Sakamoto but neither Murton nor Arai could move him round. Sakamoto led off Giants first with a two base hit which makes him even more loathesome. There is something about his Giants embodying wholesomeness which makes one want to step on his face. I much prefer Abe even though the latter is uglier. Matsumoto bunted Sakamoto to third but neither Ogasawara or Ramirez were able to convert. Brazell then launched into his second pitch of Tigers second sending it towards Ramirez who dropped it. A very nice present as Brazell was now on second. Johjima walked and things began to look promising. However, Lin flew out to third and Sakurai flew out to right which meant that the vital batter was Kubo. He did not hit this time and struck out swinging. Both teams had wasted opportunities. Things changed in the Giants second though. Abe picked his first pitch and swinging nicely deposited it into the left stand for a solo home run 1-0 Giants. He was now the sole leader in the home run race. Chono then hit to right. A very poor throw allowed him to reach third but Wakiya grounded out. Kubo then dead balled Tsuruoka. There were now runners on first and third. Gonzalez bunted, obviously aiming for a squeeze play but Brazell's throw to Johjima was good and Chono was blociked and tagged out. Giants now had runners on first and second but seemed to have wasted their chance. Sakamoto was next and he hit to third where Arai totally messed the take and deflected the ball into foul ground. The runner on second was safely home 2-0 Giants, runners on first and second and a costly error. Matsumoto then hit to third and this time Arai made sure he took the ball cleanly for the final out. Still it didn't look good for Tigers. They had a chance to get back in their third though. With Toritani out Hirano hit to centre. He was joined on base one out later by Arai who hit nicely to left. It was up to Brazell but he struck out in three - very disappointing. Giants third saw Abe walk but otherwise nothing of note happened.

Tigers fourth and Gonzalez continued to live dangerously. Lin picked up a dead ball and then Kubo hit - rather surprisingly. Toritani was then judged to have struck out looking but the problem was the umpire who had troubles with the inside line all evening. Wakiya led off the Giants fourth with a two base hit. This was down to Murton who was poorly positioned and not fast enough to get back in time to take the catch. Two strike outs followed and then Sakamoto was at the plate. He swung and somehow got enough contact on the ball for a home run 4-0 Giants. It doesn't bear comparison with Abe's superb stroke of the second but it counted. Matsumoto grounded out and the innings was over. With two out Arai hit a very good two base. Brazell walked but Johjima hit his first pitch straight to third to end the innings. Ogasawara led off Giants fifth with a hit off his first pitch. Ramirez struck out and then Abe flew out but Chono hit to set up runners on first and third. Wakiya took three balls and then hit his fourth straight down the throat of Murton for the final out of the innings. Tigers sixth saw the bottom of their order fall 1-2-3. Giants sixth was Kubo's only effective innings when he retired the bottom of their order 1-2-3 as well.

Gonzalez returned for Tigers seventh. He had ridden his luck but managed to keep the Tigers bats under control. The game looked won for the Giants but things were about to change. The first batter of the innings was Toritani who hit to right. Gonzalez then struggled with Hirano who had had the better of the pitcher. Toritani stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Hirano walked. Hara decided that asking Gonzalez to pitch further was too much and replaced him. Giants had a four run lead and even if they gave up a run would still be comfortable. Kubo took the mound and imediately gave up a hit to Murton. This was a hit deep to right which crept under the glove of Chono. Of course, Toritani was home but Hirano also slide home having run three bases 4-2 Giants runner on third, Murton having run well. Maybe this was a good point to replace Kubo but Hara (no doubt thinking of his duty to Tigers fans) kept him in. Arai was next and he hit nicely to centre bringing Murton home 4-3 Giants, runner on first. Brazell showing great discipline picked up a walk which moved Arai round to second. Johjima then worked the count full before hitting to left which brought Arai hoem 4-4 scores tied. Johjima was delighted and one of the most likeable aspects of his play is his absolute commitment to being a Tigers player. Asai (pinch hitter) was next and he looked like he was going to bunt but then hit to left loadintg the bases. This was enough for Hara who brought on Yamaguchi and changed his catcher to Abe. There were still no outs but this was about to change as Mayumi inserted Kanemoto for his usual pinch hit. Kanemoto hasn't prospered in these situations and this was no difference as he struck out swinging. Sekimoto (pinch hitter) followed and showed more intelligence working a walk - oshidashi and the lead 5-4 Tigers bases loaded. Toritani struck out looking, once again the plate umpire wasn't that aware which brought up Hirano. He hit to second and beat the throw bringing Johjima home 6-4 Tigers. Asai also tried to make home but was tagged out by Abe. Asai tried to argue the point but the umpire angrily indicated that there was no way he would change his mind and replays showed the decision to have been correct. Still a six run second by the Tigers had turned the match around. Now that they were in the lead Tigers needed to protect but they failed. Mayumi decided that Uezono was the pitcher to use for the Giants seventh and he started poorly walking Matsumoto. Ogasawara hit to centre setting up runners on first and second. Ramirez struck out looking and then Mayumi decided to replace Uezono. This was clearly a mistake as there was no indication at this point that Giants would score. Mayumi would have done better to trust Uezono. Fujihara took the mound and he faced Abe who hit to first. Brazell messed up completely and the bases were now loaded with one out. Mayumi then switched to Nishimura on the grounds that he had managed a similar situation at Koshien. But this was at Tokyo Dome. Still Nishimura struck out Chono leading one to think that the decision was good. However, Takahashi (pinch hitter) was next and he hit his third pitch to right bringing home two runs 6-6 scores tied, runners on first and third. Edgar (replacement first) was next and he has a good record against the Tigers. He hit a two base to left and another runner was home 7-6 Giants, runners on second and third and the lead was lost. Mayumi had mishandled the seventh. Kudoh (pinch hitter) took a dead ball to load the bases but Sakamoto flew out and the innings was over. The pitcher for Tigers eighth was Ochi and he started out by striking out Murton. Arai hit to centre and this brought up Brazell. He mentioned after the match that he wanted to atone for his error so his method of doing this was to hammer a home run into centre. This was a monster shot which kept on going and slammed into the back wall 8-7 Tigers. Johjima hit to left and was bunted to second by Asai which was the end of Ochi. Hoshino got the final out getting Hiyama (pinch hitter) to fly out. Now they had the lead again, Tigers really did need to hold it and Mayumi put Kubota in to pitch the Giants eighth. Kubota was inspired - he faced the Giants 2-3-4 and got Matsumoto to ground out, Ogasawara to fly out to right and Ramirez to fly out to left. A vital 1-2-3 innings which stopped the Giants momentum dead. Hoshino returned for Tigers ninth and ran into trouble himself. Shunsuke Fujikawa (replacement right) hit to Sakamoto who made his obligatory error allowing the runner on first. Toritani was next and he had been a bit unlucky all match but this time banged a two run home run to right 10-7 Tigers. Hirano hit to short and Sakamoto once again failed to get the throw away in time. Murton flew out and then Arai hit. A wild pitch took the runners to second and third but Brazell struck out. Hara switched to Micheal for Johjima and he was successful in inducing the Tigers catcher to line out to short to end the innings. Of course the pitcher for Giants ninth was Kyuji Fujikawa. He started well by getting a fly out from Abe. However, the next batter Chono hit sweetly for a solo home run 10-8 Tigers - the Giants weren't dead yet. Takahashi flew out which left one out - ato hitori. This was Edgar who grounded out to second to end the game. Tigers victory.

A fantastic game and great result. Tigers had looked burried but came back and even though they lost the lead by some poor handling of pitching in the seventh never gave up. Kubota's eighth innings was the key - he generated the chance for Tigers to win. Kyuji picked up his 14th save but it was 20 days since his previous one. The victory went to the well deserving Kubota.