June 25th Messenger v Utsumi - Sakamoto makes a mess

Mayumi switched to panic mode for this game and almost blew it. Sixth innings he decided that Messenger was struggling, it was true that Messenger had just given up a sacrifice fly but this was not anything to get excited about and the fact that his replacement Enokida gave up a hit suggested a level of panic that was unnecessary. Sakai owner got it right (though he later retracted his comments saying that Utsumi was due a loss. The bunting in this game was ridiculous (on the Tigers side and Shunsuke once again showed stunning stupidity in his base running. Tigers now overtake Giants to move into A class. Scores

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

Starting lineups

Giants
1. Sakamoto (Short)
2. Kamei (Right)
3. Abe (Catcher)
4. Ramirez (Left)
5. Chono (Centre)
6. Ogasawara (First)
7. Ryal (Third)
8. Fujimura (Second)
9. Utsumi (Pitcher)

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

Giants enjoyed a much better start than the previous day. Sakamoto started his dreadful day by striking out looking. But then Kamei popped one up into the space between Toritani and Kanemoto. Neither really went for it with the result that the ball landed safe and Giants had their first hit. Abe walked which crucially took Kamei to second. Next was Ramirez who hit nicely to centre bringing Kamei home 1-0 Giants, runners on first and second. Chono grounded out forcing out Abe and then Ogasawara struck out swinging to end the innings. Tigers couldn’t really respond. Murton struck out swinging but Hirano hit a single to centre. Neither Toritani nor Arai did anything and the first ended with a slight advantage to the Giants. Messenger was much better in the Giants second getting all three batters to ground out. Utsumi’s struggles started in Tigers second. Brazell grounded out but Sekimoto hit a grounder to Sakamoto. He threw to first but his throw was poor and drew Ogasawara off base as he stretched to take it. Sekimoto was safe. Kanemoto walked to set up runners on first and second but he was forced out by Fujii’s ground out to second. Tigers now had runners on first and third with two outs and Messenger next. Utsumi did not pitch well to Messenger and with the count full, Messenger drove into centre past the despairing glove of Sakamoto for a timely hit 1-1 scores tied, runners on first and second. Murton grounded out to third to end the innings but the lead had gone. Messenger then proceeded to throw a fine innings retiring the Giants batter5s in the third and keeping them off base. Utsumi was also good in Tigers third striking out Hirano with a particularly intelligent piece of pitching.

Ramirez flew out to Murton to start Giants fourth but Chono hit nicely to right for a single. He made second on Ogasawara’s ground out but Ryal was not up to the challenge and struck out swinging to some more fine pitching from Messenger. Tigers fourth stated with Brazell getting hold of an Utsumi changeup and depositing it in the left centre gaia for a solo home run 2-1 Tigers. The story is he had met some kids and promised them he would try to hit a home run. Sekimoto tried to hit deep to right and flew out. Kanemoto after taking three balls somehow managed to ground out to first and finally Fujii grounded out. Tigers had the lead and they wouldn’t surrender it. Messenger made sure of this by retiring the batters in order in Giants fifth finishing with the luckless Sakamoto. Messenger led off Tigers fifth and didn’t repeat his feats of the second, striking out looking. Murton though hit to right. Hirano followed this with a hit to right as well and Tigers had runners on first and third. Toritani went right as well bringing home Murton 3-1 Tigers, runners on first and second. Arai and Brazell both flew out to end the innings. Tigers had a cushion. It was rapidly challenged. Kamei led off Giants sixth with a fine two base to right. Abe struck out swinging – some nice pitching here and then Ramirez hit to right. Here Giants missed a chance – Kamei had the speed and the hit was far enough but Kamei was held up on third with Ramirez on first. It’s not only the Tigers who have troubles with third base coaches. Chono then took a big swing and hit deep to Hirano at centre. Hirano threw in nicely and Sekimoto sent the relay to Fujii. However, Kamei had set off in good time and in sliding in pushed Fujii’s foot out of the way to reach home safely. 3-2 Tigers, runner on first. Here Mayumi panicked and replaced Messenger. There was no real threat and Messenger could have safely have been left in for the third out. He looked very upset as well he might. This was a stupid move by the manager. Enokida his replacement instantly gave up a hit to Ogasawara to set up runners on first and second but Ryal flew out to end the innings. Tigers sixth was a little worrying. Sekimoto struck out looking but Kanemoto hit to right. He was pinch run for by Shunsuke who strayed too far off first and was picked off by the watchful Utsumi. This was just a piece of stupidity from Shunsuke who should have known better. Two outs instead of one out with one one. Arai struck out to end the sixth.

Enokida returned for Giants seventh Tani (pinch hitter) hit to left. Utsumi was next, tried to bunt and failed being out. Sakamoto struck out swinging to a low slider and as he did so Tani went for second. Fujii transferred and threw to second but was a bit wild. The good thing was that he was wild to right and this gave Sekimoto an advantage. It was an easy tag as Tani slid in and he was the third out. Tigers seventh started with Ryota Arai (pinch hitting for Enokida) leading off with a hit to left. Murton hit to Utsumi who threw to second where Sakamoto and Furuki (replacement second) collided. Sakmoto took the ball but at no time made contact with the sack. The second base umpire was watching for this and ruled Murton to be safe. Then we got a classic piece of Mayumi stupidity – Hirano was asked to bunt. He did so but the bunt went along the third baseline and Utsumi picked up and threw to third. The throw was poor and high but Ryal was just able to keep his foot on the sack to get Ryota Arai as he slid in. Runners on first and second. Toritani hit to right again but this time Hirano was held up on third when there was a run on offer, bases loaded. Ochi took over from Utsumi and faced Arai. Arai hit to Furuki. He tossed the ball to Sakamoto for the force out but then fumbled and dropped the ball failing to make the throw for the double play. Arai was safe on first and Murton was home 4-2 Tigers. A costly error. Yamaguchi replaced Ochi and got the final out – Brazell who grounded out to second. Kobaysahi pitched Giants eighth and with one out walked Abe. Things then got much easier for him and he got Ramirez to fly out to Murton in right centre and Chono to ground out to Toritani. Romero took Tigers eighth and had an interesting innings. He started by walking Sekimoto on a full count. Then Shunsuke tried to bunt and popped the ball up along the first baseline. It landed nicely and ran away from Romero allowing Shunsuke to beat the throw to first – runners on first and second with no outs. Mayumi then had Fujii bunt – why? It was a nice bunt but one would have thought that two bunts in a row was a bit much. Anyway it put runners on second and third with Hiyama next. He lined out to right but Sekimoto hesitated and missed the chance to go for home. It was a genuine chance but Sekimoto wasn’t paying attention. Finally, Murton grounded out to first and Tigers had wasted a good chance. Fujikawa took the Giants ninth and had to work a bit harder than the night before. Ogasawara battled before striking out swinging to a superb high 152 kmh straight. .Wakiya (pinch hitter) hit a fly to centre where Shibata (replacement centre) took the catch. Finally, Furuki grounded out to Toritani who finished the game with a superb dive and take, getting up in time to make the throw to first for the out. Tigers victory.

The strange panic in the sixth aside this had been a fine victory. Tigers had played well and taken advantage of the Giants errors. Giants will rue the errors they have made so far this series with Sakamoto in particular being poor. Tigers in contrast have fielded much more competently, Kanemoto aside. Kyuji now has 15 saves and Messenger picked up the victory, some compensation for Mayumi’s shabby behaviour. The latter still needs to go as soon as possible.