April 26th Andoh v Bullington - Hirano and the sayonara hit

Hirano in his hero interview praised Tigers pitching and catcher and indeed over the series they have been superb. Carp were able to generate only one run in three games (which did give them a victory it is true). They had runners in scoring positions but were unable to convert them time and again. Komiyama has started to hit as well and given his exemplary work behind the plate should have cemented his place as first choice catcher for the Tigers. Pitch counts are down and starters are going deep without being over-pitched. They are also getting out of jams and pitching more confidently. There is still a long way to go but relegating Fujii to the bench and using him occasionally with Standridge (if that works) would seem to be the way to go. Tigers should have got to Bullington in the fifth and sixth and almost did with Kanemoto's run attempt but here it was a case of letting the pitcher call the shots rather than that of Maeda where Tigers had no choice - Maeda dominated. Bullington is vulnerable and Tigers should bat better against him next time. Scores

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

Starting lineups

Carp
1. Soyogi (Short)
2. Higashide (Secomd)
3. Maru (Centre)
4. Stavinoha (Left)
5. Hirose (Right)
6. Iwamoto (First)
7. Dobayashi (Third)
8. Shirahama (Catcher)
9. Bullington (Pitcher)

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

Andoh started superbly - he would show a very nice fork and collect a lot of victims with this. Carp's first was quiet with the batters struggling to deal with the fork and both Soyogi and Maru struck out. Unfortunately, Tigers were a bit too eager in their first and where waiting would have been better they swung to early and fell in order. Carp's second produced the first hit - a rather lucky affair. Hirose popped the ball up into left field and Toritani went back to take with Kanemoto coming in from the outfield. Both of them stopped with the result that no one took the ball and it landed safely. Poor fielding - one of the two should have called for it. Iwamoto grounded out which moved Hirose to second but then Dobayashi struck out to end the innings. Dobayashi would strike out swinging in all his plate appearances as Andoh worked him over very thoroughly. Tigers second was quiet with Arai in ineffective mode. Andoh's control wandered slightly in the Carp's third. He already had two outs and just needed Soyogi to complete the collection but unaccountably walked him in four. Higashide singled right - he had a good game with the bat and needed it - he has been anonymous recently, Runners on first and second. Maru hit an easy grounder back to Andoh to end the innings. Tigers third saw the Tigers still struggling to get a base runner - once again the batters failed. At this stage one would say the Carp had the edge but Andoh was throwing much better stuff.

Carp's fourth was quiet with Andoh by now firmly in control and the batters unable to generate any momentum. Hirano worked a walk in Tigers fourth - the first base runner for the home team. He was forced out by Toritani grounding out to second but the double play didn't come off. Finally Arai grounded out to third and the innings was over. The bottom of the Carp's order presented no problems for Andoh in the fifth and they went down in order. By now though Bullington was beginning to tire and this showed in the fifth. Brazell flew out to centre - the crowd got excited by this swing but it was only ever going to end up in Maru's glove. Kanemoto though singled right. Shibata managed a weird grounder which took Kanemoto up to second. Next was Komiyama who hit nicely into centre. Kanemoto took off round the bases and Maru came in with a nice throw to Shirahama who was blocking the plate well. Here we saw something I never expected from Kanemoto - instead of sliding in he went full tilt for the catcher and slammed into him in an attempt to dislodge the ball. Not a collision one would want as Kanemoto is solid bone and muscle. Shirahama felt the impact but kept hold of the ball to complete the tag and get the final out. Kanemoto obviously enjoyed the whole thing and got up with a big smile on his face patting the prostrate catcher to congratulate him on some good work. Lets hope we see more of this from Tigers - I have enjoyed their aggressive base running and think that this is the way to go. A very good try. Carp's sixth was quiet with no one managing to reach base. Bullington though struggled again in the Tigers sixth. With the pitcher out he faced Murton who hit deep to centre where Maru dropped the ball as he ran back to take it. Murton made second but Hirano tried to lift the ball into left and only managed to fly out. A mound conference followed and then Bullington's control went and he threw three balls to Toritani missing the zone. Finally, Carp walked him deliberately. Tigers were in with a good chance here. Arai then messed the chance up. Despite swinging at some stuff he should have left he worked the count full. The next pitch came in - it was high, inside and outside the zone. Arai swung at it anyway to strike out - very stupid batting. A loaded bases situation with a tiring pitcher would have been ideal for Brazell.

Carp's seventh was straight forward for Andoh - he had mastered his worries and was motoring along very nicely well marshalled by Komiyama. Bullington returned for Tigers seventh - a bit of a risk one would have thought but he got the first out then Kanemoto singled again. He was pinch run for by Yamato but Shibata hit into a double play - a rather stupid shot and the innings was over. Shibata is taking too long to get going and does need to pick up the pace. Carp's eight saw the batters fall in order with Dobayashi looking more and more out of his depth, striking out again. Mickolio took over from Bullington - a very wise move as Bullington would have been a real risk for the eighth. He has a fantastic beard and a nice fastball which topped out at 157 kph. Tigers had no answer and he looked very useful but a bit wayward with his accuracy at times. Here Wada took a risk and put Andoh in for Carp's ninth - he had thrown 93 pitches already but obviously Wada was going to give him the chance of victory and maybe a complete game shutout. The first out went down but then Higashide latched onto a loose pitch to single to centre. This unsettled Andoh a bit and he kept on worrying about the runner on first instead of focusing on the batter. Even though Maru was lucky in his shot which was lifted into centre for another single Runners on first and third with one out and Carp in with a good chance. Andoh responded well striking out Stavinoha with his fork and then faced Hirose. In the meantime Maru stole second but no one paid any attention to this - the focus was Hirose. Three balls went down and things looked threatening then Andoh started to throw strikes. Komiyama called for a fork and Andoh let it drift a bit higher than his normal level which caused Hirose to swing and miss - a superb pitch, Hirose swung and missed - the end of the innings. Andoh had thrown 109 pitches and done supremely well. Mickolio returned for Tigers ninth and retired the batters in order with Arai looking even more of a chump striking out.

The game had been played at a terrific rate and there was no question that there would be extra innings. Wada sent Fujikawa to the mound for Carp's tenth. He was dominant collecting two strike outs including Dobayashi again. Tigers tenth was pitched by Sarfate. No one could handle him and he retired the batters in order. Wada had had Fujikawa warming up during the Tigers tenth to give the impression that he would use him for two innings but in fact he went with Enokda. Tigers had one innings to go and Enokida started well, getting Ishii (replacement third) to ground out and then striking out Soyogi. Next he faced Higashide. Conditions had been variable all evening with showers coming down often quite heavily. This was one occasion and Higahside managed to hit along the third baseline over Arai for a two base hit. Next was Maru whose first pitch was a wild pitch. Komiyama was on it quickly but was unable to prevent Higashide reaching third safely. Enokida then walked Maru and once again Carp had runners on first and third. Once again Maru stole third as Tigers focused on the batter at the plate, Aizawa (pinch hitter). He hit to short where Toritani picked up running into centre, turned and threw to first in a smooth movement for the final out. Tigers couldn't be beaten now but they could still tie. Sarfate returned for Tigers eleventh and got Johjima (pinch hitter) to ground out to third. Then Hiyama (pinch hitter) hit nicely into centre but Maru was able to take it - two outs and the tie looked highly likely. Murton was next and he hit along the first baseline straight at Iwamoto who went down to field and missed. The ball rolled into the corner and Murton reached second. He was pinch run for by Shunsuke but Sarfate only needed one out. This was Hirano whose first pitch was a ball. Then he hit his second pitch, a straight back to the right of Sarfate breaking his bat in the process. The ball evaded Higashide at second and was fielded by Maru who threw to Shirahama standing in front of the plate. This throw was not so good as his previous one to dismiss Kanemoto though. Shunsuke rockted round the bases and slid in safely avoiding the tag with ease 1-0 Tigers sayonara victory.

A very nice win for the Tigers - they had seized the chance nicely and had not wasted Andoh's excellent pitching. The win went to Enokida but all the pitchers had done well. Carp have been shut out in the last two games and are finding things difficult. Tigers move into joint second with Dragons and have a day off today before taking on the Giants at Tokyo Dome on Saturday.