September 23rd Messenger v Nishikawa - The Kanemoto factor

With Kanemoto's retirement looming Koshien was full and this no doubt helped Tigers win. Kanemoto started the game in left and had to be sharp to avoid a throw from Blanco. Tigers managed to win the consolation game of the series as Dragons relief pitching failed to hold a two run lead for a change. Kubo apparently will not get his domestic free agency this year because of a clerical error by NPB. Takahiro Arai has been dropped down to the second team - a bad end to a poor season that started so promisingly. Scores

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

Starting lineups

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

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

Kanemoto's final game against the Dragons and an encouragingly full ground. Messenger would start the action off well with a clean sheet in the first. Nishikawa would walk Toritani in Tigers first but then Ryota Arai popped up to short. Dragons second was also quiet - no runners getting on and it looked as if Messenger was continuing his fine run of late season form. Kanemoto led off Tigers second and worked a walk. He then stayed on first - not because he disdained the steal but because there was no opportunity to take second. The other three batters didn't do anything. Dragons first base runner came in the third when Hirata led off with a single, the first single of the game. Tanishige managed to hit into a double play and the final batter of the innings was Nishikawa who did nothing. Tigers third was disappointingly quiet and once again one is forced to question Uemoto as lead off batter - he gets on base too infrequently and is not good at working walks.

Things slightly disintegrated in Dragons fourth. Ohshima led off hitting to Messenger who couldn't hold and who deflected the ball away from the field. Araki singled to centre and set up runners on first and second. Wada flew out to right and Ohshima touched up and took third. Blanco hit a grounder to third and Ohshima was able to take home 1-0 Dragons, runner on second. Then Ibata singled to right bringing in Araki 2-0 Dragons, runner on first. The final batter of the innings was Morino who popped up to short. Still a productive innings for Dragons. Nishikawa seemed a bit uncomfortable with the lead and facing Toritani as Tigers lead off in the bottom gave up a solo home run 2-1 Dragons. No one else got on base so the lead remained with the Dragons who tried to add to add to it in their fifth. With one out Tanishige singled right. He was bunted to second by Nishikawa and Messenger walked Ohshima. Araki then grounded out and the innings was over. Nishikawa then did well in Tigers fifth and retired the batters in order. Messenger meanwhile struggled in Dragons sixth - Fujii was not calling well but things were working Tigers way. Takehiro Donue (replacement left) led off with a single. Blanco singled to second and beating the throw set up runners on first and second. Ibata struck out and as he did so Takehiro Donue went for third only to be thrown out. Then Morino struck out looking to end the innings. Hirai took over for Tigers sixth and gave up a one out single to Yamato. Toritani hit right to set up runners on first and third. Then Ryota Arai also singled bringing in the run 2-2 scores tied, runners on first and third. This brought a replacement pitcher with Hirai clearly out of his depth. Kobayashi took over and Kanemoto hit to first where Blanco fielded and fired the ball to home to try and stop Toritani scoring. Kanemoto had to take drastic evading action and tumbled over but was able to make first safely with Ryota Arai on third. Toritani sad to say was out. Kanemoto was replaced by Shunsuke. Next was Murton who facing the next Dragons pitcher, Tajima singled to centre to bring in another runner 3-2 Tigers, runners on first and second. Next was Morita who drove in his first run of the season, singling to centre 4-2 Tigers, runners on first and second. Fujii walked on a full count - an unusual experience for him - to load the bases. The final batter, though, was Hiyama (pinch hitter) who struck out swinging to end the innings. A very good piece of work by the Tigers.

Messenger having survived six innings - the last three somewhat dubiously was replaced by Tsuru for the Dragons seventh. He got Hirata to fly out to third and then Tanishige hit to third where Ryota Arai messed up and allowed the runner to reach first. This brought about a change in pitching - one of those Wada panic decisions which defy rational analysis. Katoh took the mound and struck out Nomoto (pinch hitter) and then got Ohshima to ground out to second to end the innings. Yachi took over for Tigers seventh and gave up a lead off hit to Uemoto. A pass ball took Matsui (replacement catcher) by surprise and Uemoto took second. Then Yamato bunted him to third - one questions the point of this move. It would basically restrict Tigers to one run in the innings. This was provided by Toritani who hit a sacrifice fly to left 5-2 Tigers. Ryota Arai walked but then Shunsuke hit his first pitch to second for the ground out. Dragons eighth was pitched by Fukuhara. He seemed to be in friendly mood but the Dragons had by now given up and the batters fell in order. With one out in Tigers eighth Morita hit an elegant double to right. His pinch runner, Tagami, stayed on second as neither Fujii nor Sekimoto (pinch hitter) did anything to move him round. Tsutsui closed the game for the second time and once again had no problems dealing with the three batters he faced. Tigers victory.

A consolation victory but a nice way to send Kanemoto off against the Dragons. Tigers now head to Jingu for a final series against the Swallows which also includes a make up game. Then various make up games. It was nice to see Morita hitting and maybe it would be a good idea to use him as a starting member next season in place of Sekimoto.