September 3rd Shiranita v Miura - Shiranita's first win

With both Fujii and Nishioka sidelined with injuries Wada was forced to make further changes to his lineup putting Uemoto in as lead off batter and bringing in Shimizu (who has been featuring more). We saw further evidence of Miura's decline and he looked old and tired and was whacked about by Tigers battting mercilessly. This time the Tigers pitching didn't disintegrate and Yokohama had a long night being comprehensively outplayed. One assumes that Blanco is injured because otherwise leaving him out of the lineup would indicate severe senility on the part of the manager. Scores

          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9  R  H E
Tigers    2 0 1 3 1 0 1 0 1 10 15 0
BayStars  0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0  1  8 1

Starting Lineups

Tigers
1. Uemoto (Second)
2. Shunsuke (Centre)
3. Murton (Left)
4. Toritani (Short)
5. Takahiro Arai (First)
6. Imanari (Right)
7. Ryota Arai (Third)
8. Shimizu (Catcher)
9. Shiranita (Pitcher)

BayStars
1. Ishikawa (Second)
2. Yamazaki (First)
3. Morgan (Centre)
4. Nakamura (Third)
5. Kajitani (Short)
6. Kinjoh (Left)
7. Aranami (Right)
8. Tsuruoka (Catcher)
9. Miura (Pitcher)

Miura showed signs that he was struggling straight from the start. He took an inordinate number of pitches to get through his first two innings (40 in all) and didn't look like he had much control With one out Shunsuke hit to Aranami who took the ball but threw poorly and allowed the runner on base. Shunsuke promptly stole second - always a better way of moving the runner round than the bunt. Next was Murton who just missed out on the cycle this game (a triple eluded him). He got hold of a high fork and turned it nicely into the left stand for a two run home run 2-0 Tigers. Toritani also hit high and left but unconvincingly and flew out as did Arai to end the innings. Tigers had the lead but given their previous lead and failure at this ground one was a bit cautious. Shiranita started badly - giving up a single to right to Ishikawa. Of course we had to have the bunt next but to even things out Ishikawa tried to steal second. Shimizu had spotted this and the second pitch was thrown wide by Shiranita and fired to second by Shimizu for the tag out. It was a nice piece of work - Shimizu is one of those catchers who throws to the right of the sack to give fielders an extra space to tag the runner out. Yamazaki struck out and then Morgan flew out to centre. Some of Shiranita's pitches had been a bit wild but all in all he had looked competent. One wonders why it took six years for him to make it to the starter's position. With two out in Tigers second Shimizu hit a nice single to centre but the next batter was Shiranita who struck out swinging. Once again BayStars were able to put their first batter on base with Nakamura leading off with a single to right. This was lucky as the ball stayed up for a long time but Imanari had a long way to come and he was just short of a fine catch. Part of this ability to hit was nervousness on the part of Shiranita. He had some fine pitches which he showed with Kajitani who he struck out with a superb inside straight. Kinjoh flew out and Aranami went for an outside pitch he should have left - the innings was scoreless and it began to look like the Messenger situation would not be repeated. Uemoto led off Tigers third hitting over the glove of third for a single. He was bunted to second - a wasted out and once again Murton attacked Miura. This hit bounced high off the wall and was misfielded by Aranami but that had no bearing on the result. Uemoto was able to make home 3-0 Tigers, runner on second. Toritani struck out looking - he totally misjudged the pitch and Arai went swinging - Tigers were pulling ahead. Shiranita handled the bottom of the BayStars order well in their third getting Tsuruoka and Miura to both ground out. Ishikawa he managed to walk - once again getting nervous. However, Yamazaki grounded out to Ryota who made a fine throw to first for the final out.

In Tigers second Miura had been able to suppress Tigers lower order but had no such luck in the fourth. Imanari led the innings off with a single to centre. Then Ryota singled right - runners on first and second. Wada being the idiot he is then had Shimizu bunt. With your pitcher the next batter you would want the batter ahead of him to hit especially with the opposition pitcher struggling. The bunt was a disaster - it went left and Miura picked up and threw to third for the force out. Of course, Shiranita came in and tried to bunt - he was out to three bunts, it looked like Tigers and their managers ineptness would waste the chance. Uemoto was the next batter and one didn't expect much from him. Instead Miura fed Uemoto a weak slider in the middle of the zone for his fifth pitch. This was hit well and hard into the left stand for a three run home run 6-0 Tigers. Uemoto doesn't hit many home runs but this was a good one with a nice swing and nicely placed. Miura looked suitably mortified. Shunsuke also went deep and flew out to end the innings. Morgan led the BayStars fourth off flying out to end the innings. Then Nakamura singled again. Kajitani singled to second where Uemoto spilled the ball and missed out on the double play. He did recover in time to get the out at first. Kinjoh also grounded out to second but this time Uemoto was secure and the out was made. Tigers fifth was pitched by Kaga - Miura could not be risked for another innings. This did not improve things for the BayStars. Murton did fly out but Toritani tripled - his first extra base hit at No. 4. (He currently is batting .222 compared to his previous .272). Arai was next and hit into right field for a timely single 7-0 Tigers, runner on first. Imanari walked and then Ryota grounded out to third. This forced out Imanari but took Arai to third and put Ryota on first. Next was Shimizu who drove into the gap between first and second for a timely single 8-0 Tigers, runners on first and second. Finally Shiranita grounded out to first to end the innings. BayStars could still not respond in their fifth - two outs and then Matsumoto (pinch hitter) singled but Ishikawa immediately wasted the chance by lining out to Uemoto. Osada pitched Tigers sixth and managed to stem the run flow, at least temporarily. Murton did single but with two out and Toritani not driving in runs things didn't happen. Shiranita had been pitching well and on only 68 pitches returned for BayStars sixth. Here he started poorly. Yamazaki singled to centre followed by Morgan - runners on first and second. Here Nakamura didn't deliver and hit to Toritani for the double play with Yamazaki making third. Shiranita should have been able to get the third out easily but once again became nervous and found it extremely difficult. Shimizu asked for an outside pitch but Shiranita was low and travelling away and the pitch was wild. Shimizu couldn't grab it and it rolled away with Yamazaki making home for a run 8-1 Tigers. BayStars fans went wild which was understandable as they hadn't had much to cheer about all night. But still it didn't look like it was the start of a BayStars rally and so it proved with Kajitani then grounding out to first.

The first two batters went down in Tigers seventh which brought up Ryota. He got hold of a loose pitch for an enormous home run that landed high in the left stand. He knew it was a home run the moment it left his bat and threw the bat down confidently before starting his run round the bases 9-1 Tigers. Kanoh (pinch hitter) was the last batter but could only fly out in foul ground. Kubo took over the pitching for BayStars seventh, Wada having decided that it was an appropriate moment to move to the relief. After the Nohmi debacle at Tokyo Dome he has been using the relief a lot more which is a welcome change. With two out he gave up a single to Tsuruoka but then Blanco (pinch hitter) flew out to centre to end the innings. Kobayashi pitched Tigers eighth and produced an innings without base runners. Tigers needn't have worried - their lead was now unassailable. Murton was the last batter and did try for his triple but could only fly out to centre. Boyer replaced Kubo for BayStars eighth and showed some good heat - reaching 151 kph on the odd pitch. With two out Morgan singled hitting straight into centre but then Nakamura struck out swinging to a nice high pitch from Boyer to end the innings. Toritani led off Tigers ninth with a double to left - sliding nicely into second. Both Arai and Imanari grounded out with Imanar's ground out taking Toritani to third. Ryota was next and drove into centre for a single which also brought home Toritani 10-1 Tigers, runner on first. Shimizu grounded out to end the innings. There just remained the formality of BayStars ninth which was pitched by Kubota. He got Kajitani and Kinjoh out but then walked Aranami. However, Tsuruoka tried to hit his first pitch over the top but flew out to centre to end the game. Tigers victory.

This was Shiranita's first victory of his professional career and he had shown a lot of good stuff but had let nerves get to him. More experience will help him as he looked to have the potential to be a regular starter. Shimizu had called well this game if a bit conventionally but had showed more appreciation of the pitcher's issues than Fujii. Tigers had built the lead and held it - they didn't have the meltdown of a pitcher to contend with. Murton had looked more confident and relaxed this game and everyone had enjoyed themselves. Tigers need to build on this and take the series tonight.