April 22nd Iwata v Brandon - Order is restored

After the disappointing series loss Tigers needed a very big win to restore credibility. Wada reshuffled the batting order and restored Murton to lead off with Hirano at second. Johjima came in at sixth and fielded first with Brazell at left. Yamato batted seventh - I actually prefer this arrangement with one caveat - do not have Hirano bunt - it's a waste. The addition of the aggessive Johjima can only be a plus and whilst Kanemoto has been batting reasonably well it is better to have Yamato in place who seems more comfortable lower down the order. Iwata was dismal but then Nakahata's mess up of the pitching gave Tigers all the help they needed. Scores

          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9  R  H E
Tigers    4 0 0 0 3 0 4 0 0 11 12 0
BayStars  0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0  3  7 0

Starting lineups

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

BayStars
1. Aranami (Centre)
2. Ishikawa (Second)
3. Nakamura (Third)
4. Ramirez (Left)
5. Koike (First)
6. Morimoto (Right)
7. Watanabe (Short)
8. Tsuruoka (Catcher)
9. Brandon (Pitcher)

Tigers needed something good after the disappointments of the previous two nights. They started well with Murton singling to centre. Hirano bunted him to second (sigh). Then Toritani walked. Brandon hadn't started well. It got worse with Arai hitting firmly to right to load the bases. Brazell was next but he struggles in bases loaded situations and Brandon pitched well to strike him out. Next Johjima and he singled left past the dive of Watanabe. Two runners home and Tigers on first and second 2-0 Tigers. Yamato hit over the infled and Ramirez had to come in sliding forward to take the ball as it fell but he missed. Both runners raced home Johjima rounding third and throwing himself successfully at home for the run 4-0 Tigers runner on third. A thoroughly flustered Brandon walked Komiyama to strike out Iwata but Tigers were off to a good start. Iwata did not look secure though - in BayStars first he retired the batters in order but used an awful lot of pitches to do so. Tigers second saw Murton lead off again but he flew out to centre. Hirano fell to a fine diving catch by Morimoto at right. Toritani singled to centre but Arai hit too deep and flew out to end the innings. The BayStars were still shell shocked from Tigers opening salvo and their second was quiet. Koike hit the ball to Iwata and it bounced off this thigh into the path of Hirano for an easy ground out. He seemed OK but Morimoto striking out looking to end the innings - the only time Iwata threw and effective third strike. Tigers third was quiet with the batters falling in order. Brandon seemed to have reestablished his composure and was doing well. Tigers were also guilty of sitting on their lead - they would pay for it. Iwata continued to stray and Watanabe singled left. Then Tsuruoka singled left - definitely ineffective pitching. Brandon bunted the runners to second and third which brought up Aranami. He hit to Hirano who was able to get the second out but unable to prevent the runner scoring 4-1 Tigers, runner on third. Ishikawa took a swing and flew out to Yamato who was secure at centre.

4-1 wasn't really a situation to worry about but Tigers still couldn't get their runners on base - the fourth was also quiet. BayStars in the meantime had gathered some momentum. Once again a lead off batter singled left, this being Nakamura. Ramirez grounded out to second but beat the throw to first and forced out Nakamura. Things seemed OK but then fate took a hand. Koike got a lucky impact which ran along the third base line and bounced off the sack over Arai for a two base hit. BayStars had runners on second and third. Iwata then walked Morimoto to load the bases - he really wasn't doing well. Watanabe hit past third where it was fielded by Toritani who dropped the ball as he went to throw - an error but somehow the scorers attributed this as a hit. Pay attention to the game. Anyway another runner was home 4-2 Tigers, bases loaded. Tsuruoka hit to second but the double play didn't come off just the force out 4-3 Tigers, BayStars were getting closer. Here Nakahata screwed up - he decided to go with a pinch hitter and with runners on first and third Kinjoh hit straight to Iwata for the final out. BayStars had most of the game to overhaul Tigers and with Brandon controlling things nicely and with gas in the tank as it were another innings of his pitching would have been very helpful. Instead Hamilton took the mound and was dismal. He got the first two outs but then Arai singled to centre. Next Brazell took a huge swing and put the ball over left where it hit the wall just under the home run line. Arai was held up on third with Brazell making second. A mound conference was held and it was decided to walk Johjima to get at the 'lesser' batter Yamato. This duly happened and with the count at 1 and 2 Yamato hit sweetly into the gap betwen centre and left - a bases clearing triple - oops! 7-3 Tigers and a four run margin restored. Komiyama swung too soon and flew out to end the innings but the BayStars were back in trouble again. Iwata returned for BayStars fifth which was a bit of a risk but Wada clearly thought he could survive another innings and pick up his first win of the season. Aranami singled to left to lead off the innings and then Ishikawa grounded out to second to force out Aranami. Next was Nakamura who hit into a double play to end the innings. Tigers sixth saw the return of Hamilto, perhaps surprisingly but he was effective getting Ryota Arai who signaled the end of Iwata and the next two batters. BayStars sixth was pitched by Cheng - it's good too see him back in the side and he was effective retiring the batters in order.

Hamilton returned for Tigers seventh and this was really surprising given that he was going to face Tigers clean up and had already pitched two innings. BayStars paid for this folly in a big way. Toritani's first pitch was driven deep to left and cannoned off the wall for a two base hit. Arai hit his first pitch to left to bring in Toritani 8-3 Tigers, runner on first. Brazell worked the count full and then walked. Next was Johjima - he also worked the count full and then drove the ball into left centre to bring in both runners 10-3 Tigers, runner on second. This was the end of Hamilton and Satoh took over. He faced Yamato who hit a triple to left centre again, clearly enjoying himself and bringing in Johjima who literally had time to amble home 11-3 Tigers. Satoh though managed to establish some order after this. Komiyama grounded out, Cheng struck out and Murton also grounded out. BayStars though were burried. Cheng returned for BayStars seventh and retired the batters in order and he looked a very useful middle reliever. Kikuchi pitched Tigers eighth and with one out walked Toritani. However, both Arai and Shunsuke (replacement left) flew out to keep the innings scoreless. Enokida pitched BayStars eighth to turn his arm over and he had no problems with the batters either. For Tigers ninth we saw Kobayashi again who struck out two of the three batters he faced but it was all an endgame. Finally Fukuhara pitched BayStars ninth. Ramirez grounded out to third and then Koike flew out to right. Morimoto singled left but Watanabe guided the ball into the glove of Toritani who made no mistake. Tigers victory.

BayStars had been crushed. Some of the decision making had been strange but it was nice to see that this was BayStars not Tigers messing up. Yamato had driven in six runs, with Johjima driving in four and Arai one. Iwata picked up his first win of the season with some rather poor pitching but with the batting support he didn't need to pitch well. I do want to see more of this lineup though.