May 31st Messenger v Igawa - Yes that's correct

A ghost from Tigers past arose to haunt them this game. Kei Igawa 'iron nerves' playing for Orix. Tigers lost their third in a row after winning three. Hardly good though Messenger only threw 102 pitches but this was over 4.1 innings so his problems are still there. Tigers might well have burnt out their first pitcher this season and if so it didn't take them long. Scores

           1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Tigers     0 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 3  6 1
Buffaloes  1 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 X 4 11 0

Starting Lineups

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

Starting pitcher was Messenger

Buffaloes
1. Sakaguchi (Centre)
2. Kawabata (Right)
3. Baldris (Third)
4. Lee (First)
5. Itoi (DH)
6. Rottino (Left)
7. Mitsutaka Gotoh (Second)
8. Itoh (Catcher)
9. Adachi (Short)

Starting pitcher was Igawa

Tigers first three seemed to have trouble with Igawa - they couldn't figure him out at all. Of course Igawa was always a pitcher who was better if the game interested him. This is possibly the case for this game. Messenger didn't start that well. Sakaguchi singled and Kawabata laid down a bunt to take the runner to second. Ordinarily this would be a signal for faiure but a combination of a tired pitcher and a poor catcher saw Baldris single to left to bing in the run 1-0 Buffaloes, runner on first. Lee then hit into a double play to end the innings. Tigers response was poor. With one out in the second Arai singled but then Ryota hit into a double play to end that innings. Itoi walked to lead off Buffaloes second then stayed on first as the next three batters fell in order. A one run deficit wasn't anything to worry about. It became even less of a worry with Takayama, the new trade from Nippon Ham swinging and hitting a solo lead off home run to start Tigers third 1-1 scores tied. The next three batters couldn't do anything though as Igawa was forced to concentrate and show some good pitching. Things unravelled for Messenger in Buffaloes third though. Sakaguchi singled with one out. Kawabata hit to Toritani who failed to take - a costly error - runners on first and second. A wild pitch took the runners to second and third. Baldris only managed to ground out to Messenger who threw to Fujii to get the runner going for home but didn't work a double play. The scores were still tied but Buffaloes had runners on first and third. Lee walked to load the bases but even so a pitcher who wasn't tired would have dealt with the situation adequately. Messenger was tired and Itoi punched the ball through the Tigers infield into right field to bring in two runs 3-1 Buffaloes, runners on first and second. Rottino flew out to end the innings but Messenger hadn't done well and who could blame him?

Tigers fourth saw Yamato fly out and then Toritani singled. This time Murton provided the double play to end the innings. With one out in Buffaloes fourth, Itoh hit to right. He was bunted to second by Adachi which meant that the innings would be scoreless. However, Messenger walked Sakaguchi to set up runners on first and second just to provide a bit of spice before getting Kawabata to pop out to second. Tigers fifth was quiet with no one getting on base. Buffaloes fifth saw the end of Messenger who had struggled all game. Baldris flew out but then Lee hit deep and far for a solo home run 4-1 Buffaloes. Itoi singled and then Rottino doubled to set up runners on second and third. Mitsutaka Gotoh walked to load the bases which was the end of Messenger. He was replaced by Watanbe who received a somewhat dubious welcome back to the top team. Watanabe doesn't pay much attention to Fujii and this situation was no different. He got Itoh to line out which kept the runners on base and then Adachi to fly out to end the innings. Still Buffaloes were comfortably in control. If Messenger had struggled in Buffaloes fifth, Igawa would struggle in Tigers sixth. With one out Shunsuke singled to centre. Nishioka singled right to set up runners on first and second and then Yamato worked a walk. Toritani's first pitch was hit to right doubling to bring in two runs 4-3 Buffaloes, runners on second and third. Poor third base management here - with Yamato the third runner, Tigers should have cleared the bases. Higa very quickly took over and retired the next two batters. Poor work by Murton as well, he really has to try harder in fourth. In Buffaloes sixth Baldris singled with two out but nothing came of this.

Tigers seventh was quite simply quiet - no one got on base. Katoh took over for Buffaloes seventh and with one out Rottino hit to short. Toritani fielded but was unable to make the throw in time. However, the next batter, Itoi hit into a double play to end the innings. Tigers eighth was pitched by Satoh. He walked Nishioka with one out and then with another out walked Toritani to set up runners on first and second. Once again Murton failed, this time grounding out to short. Tsuru took over for Buffaloes eighth and gave up a lead off single to Itoh. He was bunted to second by Adachi. Sakaguchi walked and the double play was provided by Kawabata to end the innings. Hirano pitched Tigers ninth and retired the batters in order. Buffaloes victory.

Tigers, one thinks, could have won this game despite Orix seizing an early lead. Inept play by the batters especially in the sixth had screwed up a chance of drawing level. Yamato should have gone for home and not stopped on third. Messenger's condition does give ne cause for concern though. He needs to pitch less of r his next few games.