April 13th Nohmi v Yamauchi - A comfortable win

One sees a very much diminished Dragons. They are not the side of Ochiai and their new manager Takagi is not up to the same level at all. Once again Fujikawa was in a scare everyone mode and nearly blew a comfortable victory before recording the save. He still has that bit extra but for how long. It was good he did hold on as Nohmi had pitched superbly and it would have been a waste of a good performance if Tigers had lost the game. Scores

         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Dragons  1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1  6 1
Tigers   1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 X 3 12 1

Starting lineups

Dragons
1. Araki (Second)
2. Ohshima (Centre)
3. Morino (Third)
4. Blanco (First)
5. Wada (Left)
6. Ibata (Short)
7. Hirata (Right)
8. Tanishige (Catcher)
9. Yamauchi (Pitcher)

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

The first started with Araki swinging at his second pitch and flying out to Komiyama. Ohshima singled to centre and Morino hit right to set up runners on first and third. Blanco struck out swinging and things looked safe. They looked even safer when Wada hit one to left which was intercepted by superb dive by Arai. All he needed to do was throw to second for the final out but the throw was too high and the run scored 1-0 Dragons, runners on first and third. A bad mistake by Arai. Ibata then flew out to right to end the innings. Tigers then struck back immediately. With one out Shibata singled left. Toritani hit to set up runners on first and second and Arai redeeming his error of the top of the innings hit deep into centre for the sacrifice fly 1-1 scores tied, runner on first. Brazell also singled to set up runners on first and second but Murton couldn't exploit the chance and grounded out to short. Nohmi did give up a one out hit to Tanishige in Dragons second. Tanishige was bunted to second by Yamauchi before Araki obligingly popped one up to Arai at third for the final out. Kanemoto hit to second and Araki fumbled allowing aniki to take first. Komiyama bunted him to second and then a Nohmi ground out took him to third (a strange sequence of events to say the least). Hirano though flew out to centre. Dragons third was quiet with both Morino and Blanco striking out. Tigers third was also quiet with Arai being the final victim.

The Dragons fourth saw Nohmi in control and no one got on base. Brazell led off Tigers fourth with a two base hit to left. Murton singled and but not far enough for Brazell to get up a head of steam and make home - runners on first and third with no outs. Kanemoto was next and he broke his bat with the count full propelling the ball over the infield for a single. Brazell was home 2-1 Tigers, runners on first and second. There then followed a useless bunt from Komiyama taking the runners to second and third. Both Nohmi and Hirano swung at their first pitches grounding out to second and preventing any runs being scored. More intelligent batting at this point would have been very useful but Tigers were in the lead. With one out in Dragons fifth Yamauchi managed a hit. No one bunted him but he stayed on first as the batters failed to move him around. Shibata started Tigers fifth by grounding out and then Toritani hit to centre. Arai walked to set up runners on first and second but Brazell spoilt it all by grounding out into a double play. Dragons sixth saw the clean up fall in order. Murton singled to lead off Tigers sixth and Kanemoto flew out. Komiyama managed to pick up his second dead ball in two games and Tigers had runners on first and second. Nohmi bunted them to second and third - his hitting having failed in previous attempts which brought up Hirano. He took a swing broke his bat and did exactly what Kanemoto had done a couple of innings before - put the ball over the infield into centre. Murton was home 3-1 Tigers. Komiyama also tried for home but the throw from Ohshima was good and Tanishige stayed low applying a perfect tag for the final out. Still it is good to see Tigers runners trying for home as much as possible.

Once again Dragons couldn't hit back and their seventh was quiet. Kobayashi took over for Tigers seventh and retired Shibata and Toritani. He was then replaced by Suzuki who struck out Arai swinging. Nohmi pitched Dragons eighth and the question was would he have enough. He did well to retire the first two batters but the final out was a bit more challenging. Ohshima hit left and then made second on a wild, wild pitch. However, Morino was too keen to hit the ball to Hirano and grounded out to end the innings. Sosa pitched Tigers eighth and nearly blew things. Sekimoto (replacement third) led off with a single. Murton flew out to centre. Then Shunsuke (replacement left) also singled and Tigers had runners on first and second. Next up was Komiyama who hit to centre. Sekimoto tried for home but once again the throw was good and he was also tagged out at the plate. Tigers had runners on first and third with Hiyama next. He worked the count full but then struck out swinging to a very nice straight pitch from Sosa. Dragons ninth and Fujikawa who contrived to take two years off Komiyama's life. Conditions weren't that good but Fujikawa was pretty poor. He dead balled Yamasaki (replacement first) - it was a bit painful. Then he walked Wada - Komiyama did not look happy. No outs and runners on first and second. Thanfkfully, Ibata did what most Japanese batters will do in this situation - he bunted the runners to second and third and wasted an out. Hirata struck out looking to a superb outside pitch which brought up Tanishige. Fujikawa contrived to walk him and load the bases. Things should have been over by now but Fujikawa had to face another batter Fukuda (pinch hitter). His pitching wasn't inspired and Komiyama began to look very displeased but suddenly Fujikawa produced a low straight out of nowhere which induced Fukuda to swing and miss. Strike out and game over. Tigers victory.

Tigers had won their third in a row and beaten the Dragons comfortably. The win went to Nohmi of course with Fujikawa picking up his fifth save. He still has it in him and will probably get better as the season goes on. Arai added to his RBI count and is very hot at the moment. Tigers had played this game well.