June 30th Akiyama v Roman - A win!

Yes Tigers won a game despite Fujii's incompetence. Once again the little idiot almost contrived to blow the game but this time they held on and Fujii even contributed to the victory driving in an insurance run. Akiyama made a welcome return to the top team and must long for the days of Kanoh. Instead he was paired with the worst catcher in the central league and almost missed out on the win. This time though the Swallows couldn't pull off another win and Tigers did what they should have done yesterday - held on. Scores

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

Starting lineups

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

Swallows
1. Milledge (Left)
2. Tanaka (Second)
3. Kawabata (Short)
4. Hatakeyama (First)
5. Balentien (Right)
6. Miyamoto (Third)
7. Matsui (Centre)
8. Aikawa (Catcher)
9. Roman (Pitcher)

Kanemoto and Brazell both returned but the restoration of Shibata was a retrograde step which added nothing to the side. Roman didn't start well and Tigers batters seemed to feel that he was there to be hit. Both Murton and Hirano failed though flying out to centre and left respectively but then Toritani following his colleagues pattern hit hard and high to right. This one cleared the fence for a solo home run 1-0 Tigers. Toritani has been rather quiet of late and has been due a good game. Arai grounded out to short to end the innings. Akiyama's return was much anticipated and he started nervously of course but paired with Fujii was immediately in trouble. Milledge back to Akiyama who couldn't prevent the single. Milledge then stole second easily enough and advanced to third on Tanaka's ground out. Kawabata singled into centre 1-1 scores tied, runner on first. Hatakeyama flew out to right and then Kawabata stole second, Fujii being absolutely hopeless. Swallows are a side very much given to the steal and Fujii needs to be aware of this. He has a poor arm and his base awareness is lacking. Balentien walked to set up runners on first and second but this time Miyamoto grounded out to second. Swallows had squandered a good chance to take the lead. Roman though wasn't pitching well and even though Kanemoto grounded out Brazell launched a big hit to right for a solo home run 2-1 Tigers. Shibata grounded out as did Fujii. Matsui led off Swallows second with a single. Aikawa struck out but Roman bunted Matsui to second. A nice rescue out. Milledge hit to Toritani who stopped but couldn't throw and Swallows had runners on first and third. This time Tanaka flew out to centre and the innings was over. Tigers hadn't had any base runners so far. This would change. Akiyama singled left to lead off Tigers third. A wild pitch took him to second and then Murton grounded out to third. Hirano hit along the right baseline into the corner for a three base timely hit 3-1 Tigers, runner on third. Toritani singled left to bring in the run 4-1 Tigers, runner on first. Then Arai hit into a double play to end the innings. So Tigers having built a nice lead proceeded to blow it. Akiyama got the first two outs in Swallows third which brought up Balentien. He launched the ball to left centre for a solo home run 4-2 Tigers. Then Miyamoto singled centre and Matsui hit deep to centre for the second home run of the innings 4-4 scores tied. Fujii's calling had been abysmal and one can't say that Akiyama had pitched well either. But one has to say that the catcher should protect his inexperienced pitcher and Fujii was doing a poor job of this. Aikawa was the last batter grounding out to short to end the innings.

Tigers fourth saw Brazell walk with one out but he stayed on first. Swallows fourth was also quiet. Even though the strike out of Roman was nothing special, the strike out of Milledge was much better. Tanaka grounded out to short to end the innings. Tigers fifth and with one out Murton singled. Another wild pitch took him to second and Hirano singled right but Murton stopped on third. Runners on first and third. Toritani then sensibly hit a sacrifice fly to right 5-4 Tigers, runner on first. Arai went for his first pitch but flew out. Once again Akiyama needed to protect the lead However, Swallows fifth started poorly with Kawabata singling. Hatakeyama was induced to hit into a double play and then Balentien struck out looking. It was a fine innings but Akiyama was finished at 101 pitches. Fujii's calling had not only been inept but wasteful as well. Roman was also finished and Shoda pitched Tigers sixth. He gave up a lead off hit to Kanemoto but Brazell hit into a double play. Then Shibata grounded out again. Watanabe pitched Swallows sixth and this time got on reasonably with Fujii though he ignored a lot of the calls. The batters fell in order and Tiger held onto their slender lead.

Tigers seventh was a wasted opportunity. With Fujii gone Asai (replacement centre) hit a nice two base to left centre. Murton singled but Asai was held up on third. Then Hirano walked to load the bases. Toritani hit a grounder to second who threw to home to get the force out but the bases were still loaded. This brought a change in pitcher with Yamamoto taking over. He faced Arai who flew out to left. Tigers should have made more of this opportunity. Swallows seventh by contrast was quiet and finished with Tanaka striking out. The pitcher changed and Hidaka took the mound. Kanemoto started Tigers eighth by grounding out. Then Brazell flew out. Ryota Arai (pinch hitter) walked and was pinch run for by Yamato. Yamato instantly stole second and then Fujii who had been anonymous with the bat singled right. Yamato raced home 6-4 Tigers but Fujii tried to go too far and was tagged out. Even doing something right he managed to get it wrong. Katoh pitched Tigers eighth and ran into Fujii problems walking both Balentien and Miyamoto with two out. Still with two outs it was more likely that Tigers would escape. This they did when Matsui flew out to end the innings. Oshimoto pitched Tigers ninth and he gave up a hit to Murton who singled to third with one out. Nothing came of this and the innings ended with Toritani striking out. Enokida took over for the Swallows ninth and induced a line out to third from Aikawa. Miyade (pinch hitter) flew out to left but Milledge walked. However, Tanaka struck out swinging to end the game. Tigers victory.

A very welcome victory and it stopped the losing streak at four. This time Tigers had held the lead and Akiyama had won his first game on his return to the top team. Enokida picked up his second save of the season but Tigers really do need to do something about replacing Fujii. Through his incompetence Tigers lost the lead again. As has been noted before there was a reason why Rakuten (the worst team in Japan) let him go. Tigers do need to go with Komiyama as their starting catcher until Johjima returns. Fujii is not first team material. Still Tigers now have a chance to take the series tomorrow. They have outhit Swallows in both games and as long as they continue to hit are in with a very good chance.