April 28th Fujinami v Miura - Miura fails again

Tigers duly took the series against a spirited BayStars challenge. There does, though, seem to be something wrong with our battery coach. The Fujinami/Fujii pairing made exactly the same mistake as the Komiyama/Katoh pairing the game before. A high straight in the centre of the zone. It was an easy home run (even I could hit that pitch) and a tyro mistake. BayStars couldn't capitalise on their initial spirit and Tigers were able to pull ahead and win the game and the series. Fujinami now has three victories in a row and demonstrated a wicked cutball. Why he didn't use this against Matsumoto will remain a mystery. Scores

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

Starting Lineups

Tigers
1. Nishioka (Second)
2. Yamato (Centre)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Murton (Left)
5. Fukudome (Right)
6. Takahiro Arai (First)
7. Ryota Arai (Third)
8. Fujii (Catcher)
9. Fujinami (Pitcher)

BayStars
1. Ishikawa (Short)
2. Uchimura (Second)
3. Ide (Left)
4. Blanco (First)
5. Nakamura (Third)
6. Kinjoh (Right)
7. Matsumoto (Centre)
8. Takajoh (Catcher)
9. Miura (Pitcher)

Tigers start was innocuous with batters falling like ninepins. BayStars started much better though. Ishikawa led off the innings with a single. Uchimura tried to bunt in what passes for management in these parts but good pitching by Fujinami prevented the bunt going down and he ended up swinging at a fork for the out. Ide then hit into the double play to end the innings. Miura then ran into big trouble in Tigers second. Murton drilled a lead off double to left. Next was Fukudome who latched onto his first pitch a straight and deposited it in the BayStars gaia for a two run home run 2-0 Tigers. Arai singled and then his brother Ryota planted the ball between centre and right for a timely double 3-0 Tigers and all this with no one out. It couldn't last, Fujii flew out taking Ryota to third and Fujinami struck out. Finally, Nishioka lined out to short to end the innings. BayStars hit back immediately. Blanco failed by popping up in foul ground to Arai and Nakamura struck out. Then Kinjoh hit to Nishioka and once again his throw was abysmal. Arai had no chance and once again for some strange reason this was not declared an error. Runner on first. Next was Matsumoto and Fujinami sent down his inviting pitch. This actually landed further into the stand than Fukudome's home run - it really was a sitter 3-2 Tigers. Takajoh managed to ground out and end the innings but BayStars were right back in the game. Tigers third saw Toritani pick up a one out walk. He stole second and then Murton walked. It looked dangerous for Miura but he managed to wiggle out of the trouble inducing an infield fly to second from Fukudome and then a fly to right from Arai to end the innings. Tigers would pay for this failure to score. Miura led off BayStars third with a surprisingly deep fly out to left and then Ishikawa worked a walk. Uchimura singled; runners on first and third - BayStars had worked Fujii's calling patterns out but their lack of ambition wouldn't help them later. Ide hit the sacrifice fly to left 3-3 scores tied, runner on first. Next was Blanco who once again popped up to first to end the innings.

Ryota Arai led off Tigers fourth with a walk. There wasn't much chance of him advancing though and Fujii flew out to left. Fujinami bunted him to second but Nishioka could only ground out to end the innings. Nakamura led BayStars fourth off with a single. Kinjoh thought about the bunt but eventually hit to Arai who fired the ball to second for the force out. Kinjoh was safe on first though. Now Fujinami really began to make use of his cutball and got Matsumoto to strike out swinging and then did the same to Takajoh to end the innings. Yamato led the Tigers fifth off with a fly to left. Ide had to hurry the take and trapped the ball against his chest which proved to be rather painful. Both Toritani and Murton followed in flying out but this time without suffering for Ide. Fujinami's cutball took care of Miura to start BayStars fifth and then a very nice inside straight accounted for Ishikawa looking. Ichimura was able to get hold of his cutball but could only ground out to second. Fukudome struck out looking to start Tigers sixth but Arai singled nicely to right. Ryota also singled and Arai used his speed round the bases to take third. It needed something from Fujii and Tigers catcher came through with a sacrifice fly to left. Arai tagged up and charged home 4-3 Tigers, runner on first. Then Fujinami hit a double to right centre nicely placed over Kinjoh. The runner was Ryota though who doesn't have his brother's speed and stopped on third - runners on second and third. Nishioka swung too soon and popped up to Takajoh for the final out. Tigers had the lead but needed to hold it. Things didn't start too well with Ide drawing a walk. Blanco went deep but Murton was under it for the first out. Then Nakamura obligingly supplied the double play - Toritani fielded and threw to Nishioka who was upended as Ide slid into second but got his throw away in time. A vital blow for Tigers.

Tigers seventh was pitched by Fujie who started by dead balling Yamato on his leg. Toritani grounded out which moved Yamato to second, Murton struck out swinging and then Fukudome flew out deep to right trying for another home run. Andoh took over the pitching for BayStars seventh, Fujinami having thrown 96 pitches. Fujinami has a limit around 100 and it would be nice if Wada and co applied this to all of Tigers starters. Andoh and Fujii didn't quite communicate. Kinjoh swung at a low fork and hit it toward Andoh. It bounced off the portly one's glove and rolled away to short. Toritani did well to make the throw but Kinjoh was safe on first. Matsumoto bunted and it was at this point you knew the BayStars were going to lose the game. Such a limited strategy was bound to fail especially as Andoh picked up and threw to second for the force out. Gotoh (pinch hitter) though worked a walk, runners on first and second, as I said Fujii and Andoh didn't communicate well. Ramirez (pinch hitter) popped up to Fujii for the second out. Finally, Ishikawa flew out to left to end the innings. Kaga took over for Tigers eighth and nearly beaned Arai with his third pitch. Arai then fouled the next pitch off his foot and needed some treatment for this. Finally he struck out. Ryota grounded out and then Fujii did the same. Fukuhara took over for BayStars eighth. Uchikawa grounded out but then Ide hit to right. Blanco struck out swinging, Fukuhara going high with most of his pitches and inducing the swings. The pitches though stayed up and didn't drop into Blancos zone - nice pitching. Nakamura though singled right to set up runners on first and second. Fukuhara went inside again and got Kinjoh to ground out and end that innings. Sosa pitched Tigers ninth. This saw Imanari (pinch hitter) lead off with a double to left. Nishioka's ground out took Imanari to third and then Yamato hit the ball nicely along the ground into centre. Imanari was home 5-3 Tigers, runner on first. Yamato then stole second but Toritani flew out and Murton could only ground out to third. Kubo was the pitcher for BayStars ninth and rapidly disposed of Matsumoto. He had to work hard though for the other outs. Kajitani (pinch hitter) singled and then finally, Shimozono (pinch hitter) flew out. Kubo was also having trouble with Fujii. However, this was only delaying the inevitable and Ishikawa flew out to centre to end the game. Tigers victory.

A very nice series win. BayStars had pushed Tigers all the way but eventually their disorganization had proven their downfall. They couldn't really play as a team in the same way as Tigers could. Once again Fujinami had picked up the win - not as dominating as before but still with enough to win. A very encouraging performance by the rookie. The policy of limiting him to 100 pitches per session is also paying dividends but needs to be applied to all Tigers starters. Miura isn't quite finished but his decline is becoming clearer and clearer with each start.