June 11th Nohmi v Ishii - A winning streak

Yes Tigers have a winning streak. It is small and needs careful nurturing to grow into something bigger but for the first time they managed to win three games in a row. Nohmi also managed their first complete game shutout of the season. Mayumi was as miserable as ever but Fujii was talking away to every other player in the dugout. The Lions weren't particularly wonderful but Tigers were efficient and played very nicely to take the game. The news on Johjima isn't good - he's out for two weeks for sure and may be out for longer possibly needing surgery as well. With Kanoh out of action as well Tigers will be relying on Fujii with Shimizu as reserve. Scores

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Tigers  2 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 4 10 1
Lions   0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  4 0

Starting lineups

Tigers
1. Murton (Right)
2. Hirano (Centre)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Arai (Third)
5. Brazell (First)
6. Sekimoto (Second)
7. Kanemoto (DH)
8. Fujii (Catcher)
9. Asai (Left)

Starting pitcher: Nohmi

Lions
1. Kataoka (Second)
2. Kuriyama (Centre)
3. Nakajima (Short)
4. Nakamura (Third)
5. Gotoh (DH)
6. Asamura (First)
7. Akiyama (Right)
8. Ginjiro (Catcher)
9. Kumashiro (Left)

Starting pitcher: Ishii

Things started with a bang for Tigers - Ishii's third pitch, a 140 kph straight was hit nicely to left for a lead off solo home run by Murton 1-0 Tigers. Hirano flew out but Toritani walked. Arai then hit nicely over centre - a two base hit which moved Toritani to third and Arai to second. Brazell struck out swinging but Sekimoto who has been showing much more application hit nicely to right. Toritani of course was home 2-0 Tigers but Arai was tagged out at the plate. Actually it was very good play by all concerned. Akiyama's throw was good, Sumitani took the throw and blocked the plate well and Arai charged the catcher excellently - he actually knocked Ginjiro out of the way and tagged home and if Ginjiro had dropped the ball or missed it, Arai would have scored. Lions first was a disaster for them - Nohmi struck out all three batters. Kataoka looking and then Kuriyama and Nakajima swinging. Tigers second saw the batters falling in order. Nohmi managed to dead ball Asamura in Lions second with two out but Akiyama grounded out to first to end the innings. That would be the story of the day for the Lions, they would get runners on base but fail to execute. Tigers third and Murton grounded out. Hirano hit to right and then Toritani drove a two base to right, runners on second and third. Arai wasted no time and banged his first pitch deep for a sacrifice fly 3-0 Tigers. Brazell hit straight to short to end the innings. Lions third produced their first hit, Kumashiro hitting to right. With two out he stole second - the throw from Fujii being respectable but Toritani dropped the ball . It didn't help the Lions as Kuriyama struck out swinging to end the innings.

Tigers fourth was quiet with no one reaching base. Nakajima led off Lions fourth with a ground out to Arai which didn't quite work out as Arai's throw was poor - runner on first. Nakamura walked to set up runners on first and second with no outs and things looked diffcult. Gotoh flew out to short and then Asamura hit a deep fly to left. Nakajima tagged up and took third but there was only one more out and Nohmi got Akiyama to hit his first pitch to second for the ground out. Murton went left with a base hit in Tigers fifth with one out but then Hirano hit to third forcing out Murton. This was close as Kataoka had to stretch for the ball from a poor throw by Nakajima. Toritani provided the final out - grounding out to second. Ginjiro led off Lions fifth by flying out to short. Kumashiro had his second hit of the day - a deep hit to left which Asai chased down and threw to centre. Asai ended up on his butt but he kept Kumashiro on first. If he had missed the take it was a two base hit - a very fine piece of fielding. Kataoka drove into centre - runners on first and second but Asai's chasing down of the ball had probably prevented a run. Kuriyama hit a deep fly to Hirano which moved Kumashiro to third but there were now two outs. Nakajima was induced to hit to second and the innings was over. Arai led off Tigers sixth with a hit but Brazell hit into a straightforward double play. Sekimoto banged an Ishii straight to centre but that was always a fly out - end of innings. After the struggles of the fourth and fith Nohmi had rather an easy job of things in the bottom of the six. Batters went down in order.

Tigers seventh and there were a lot of Tigers fans at Seibu Dome so there were a lot of jettos. Kanemoto flew out and then Fujii lined out to short. Next batter, Asai who battled Ishii and then hit a nice two base to left centre. That was it for Ishii who was replaced by Hirano. He faced Murton who took a ball and then walloped a straight over centre for a two base timely hit 4-0 Tigers, runner on second. Hirano folowed but could only ground out to the pitcher. Seibu's seventh wasn't so good. Akyama flew out to short but Ginjiro hit to left. Kumashiro grounded out to Toritani who threw to second for the double play. Unfortunately, the throw was poor and Hirano (who had moved to second as Sekimoto was withdrawn in the sixth) could only take the throw but not make necessary double play throw to first. It didn't matter as Kataoka flew out to centre - very straightforward. Fujii congratulated Nohmi but he didn't seem very happy - one wonders why, he had pitched very well. Matsunaga pitched Tigers eightn and retired the batters in order, everyone flying out. Lions eighth and it was clear that a complete game shutout was in the offing as Nohmi returned. Kuriyama flew out to left, once again a nice piece of fielding from Asai and then Nakajima struck out swinging. Nohmi faced Nakamura whom he struck out looking with a straight which wizzed across the zone. A brilliant pitch. Nogami took Tigers ninth and gave up a right hit to Kanemoto. He was pinch run for by Uemoto who made second on Fujii's ground out. Fujii tries to hit and that is encouraging though his execution is not so wonderful. Asai hit right but only succeeded in flying out to end the innings. Nohmi returned for Lions ninth and induced the fly out to first from Gotoh. Next Asamura flew out in foul ground. Then Fernandez grounded out to second to end the innings. Tigers victory.

Nohmi finally smiled after his complete game. He had thrown 128 pitches but really for Mayumi's pride not because it was necessary. His first comment during his hero interview was 'Hai - tsukarimashita' in response to the comment nice pitching ie Yes that was tiring. He could have been replaced after the seventh and even though he had responded Nohmi had not been happy about the workload. Tigers had worked a very efficient and cool victory and could be very pleased with their performance. Tomorrow is Andoh and this will be interesting.