October 3rd Akiyama v Suda - Koshien bound

With the Carp losing Tigers cannot be caught and have confirmed their second place finish in the Central League. This means that the first stage of the Climax Series will be at home for Tigers. This game, Shimizu started and the improvement in quality was marked. Wada though still had to give Fujii his share of the victory and brought the latter on for the eighth and ninth - a stupid move which fortunately didn't backfire. It would be nice to see Shimizu start the Climax Series but we can expect to see Fujii behind the plate - more for perceived status than actual ability. Scores

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

Starting Lineups

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

BayStars
1. Ishikawa (Second)
2. Aranami (Centre)
3. Kajitani (Short)
4. Blanco (First)
5. Kinjoh (Right)
6. Matsumoto (Left)
7. Shirasaki (Third)
8. Kurobane (Catcher)
9. Suda (Pitcher)

Tigers got another crack at Suda and did well though it can't be said that Suda was doing well at all. Tigers first was a missed opportunity. Two conventional outs to start the innings and then a single from Toritani. Murton worked a walk and Suda was clearly nervous. However, Fukudome struck out swinging to end the innings. If Suda was nervous Akiyama was even more shaky and even though he got Ishikawa to ground out for the first BayStars out he didn't settle. Aranami singled and then stole second. Kajitani flew out in foul ground but that still didn't settle Akiyama who sent down a pass ball taking Aranami to third. There was more trouble in Blanco's at bat with Akiyama throwing a curve which was not what Shimizu had signaled at all. This necessitated a short discussion and Blanco walked in the end - runners on first and third. Kinjoh went for his shot and lined out to Toritani to end the innings and let Akiyama off the hook he had so casually hung himself on. With one out in Tigers second Ryota singled. Suda wasn't doing well and dead balled Shimizu - runners on first and second. Akiyama bunted, badly, and Suda who fielded was able to throw to third for the force out - runners on first and second. Nishioka ended the innings by grounding out to second. The start to BayStars second indicated that Akiyama's nightmare was still continuing. Matsumoto singled left to lead off the innings. Then Shirasaki also singled left to put runners on first and third. Kurobane hit a grounder to Nishioka who fumbled badly and allowed Matsumoto to reach home 1-0 BayStars, runners on first and second. Suda went to bunt and failed being out with three failed attempts. Ishikawa grounded out to short forcing out Kurobane but taking Shirasaki to third. The double play didn't come off and Ishikawa reached first safely. Finally, Aranami grounded out to short ending the innings. Akiyama had had some bad luck but hadn't really settled at all. Tigers though would exploit Suda's weaknesses more than BayStars would exploit Akiyama's problems. Suda's downfall began right from the start of Tigers third. Shunsuke was the batter and he hit over the infield for a single. Next was Toritani who went deep and just cleared the fence for a two run home run 2-1 Tigers. Suda disintegrated. Murton walked in four and then Fukudome also walked in four - runners on first and second with no outs. Arai went to hit deep but only flew out to centre. Murton took advantage of this to tag up and take third. Ryota slapped the ball into centre for a timely single 3-1 Tigers, runners on first and second. This brought a quick change of pitcher by the BayStars in an attempt to limit the damage and Tsuchiya took over. Shimizu struck out and for a moment it looked as if the plan might succeed. Then Akiyama got a pitch in the middle of the zone and drove it into centre for a single - bases loaded. Nishioka was next and this time singled left to bring in two more runs 5-1 Tigers, runners on first and second. Shunsuke walked to load the bases and BayStars only escaped when Toritani mistimed his swing at an outside slider and flew out to short. With a four run margin Akiyama could theoretically relax a little and was much better in BayStars third. He struck out Kajitani but Blanco doubled along the left baseline helped by the fact that his bat broke. Blanco made third on Kinjoh's ground out however, Matsumoto struck out swinging to end the innings.

Tigers fourth saw Tsuchiya pitching much better and no Tigers batter reached base at all. With one out in BayStars fourth Kurobane singled and then was able to make second on a wild pitch with two out. However, the final batter Ishikawa managed to ground out to second ending the innings. The new pitcher for Tigers fifth was Kobayashi who gave up a one out single to Shimizu. Wada being Wada had Akiyama bunt despite evidence from earlier in the game that having Akiyama hit was more sensible. Akiyama failed on three bunt attempts and was out. Sometimes the blindness of Tigers management takes one's breath away. Nishioka struck out and ended the innings. BayStars fifth would have given Akiyama his first victory in nine starts if he had managed to complete it. Sadly it was not to be. Aranami led off and managed to single along the left baseline. Kajitani flew out to left. Then Blanco got lucky - he took a swing at a high ball which flew off his bat and cleared the wall for a two run home run 5-3 Tigers. Totally surprising and a fluke hit but it had severe consequences for Akiyama. Wada reacted quickly and pulled Akiyama to replace him with Tsutsui. A bit unfair perhaps over a fluke hit but Tsutsui settled down to get the next two outs and maintain the Tigers lead at two runs. Tigers sixth saw Toritani single with one out but Murton hit into an innings ending double play. Kubo took over for Tigers sixth and looked more secure with Shimizu behind the plate. He retired the batters in order and made sure that they didn't build on the windfall of the previous innings.

Fukudome led Tigers seventh off with a line drive into centre off the BayStars reliever Kikuchi. He took second on Arai's ground out but there he stayed as the next two batters went down. Here Wada brought on Hiyama to pinch hit for Shimizu so he could bring Fujii on. The change was pointless in the extreme and potentially game losing. However, it worked out OK. Katoh pitched BayStars seventh and was able to retire his former teammates in order. Fujie pitched Tigers eighth and also retired the three batters he faced in order. Andoh took over for BayStars eighth and gave up a lead off single to Blanco. Blanco though stayed on first as the next three batters were unable to do anything. It was looking like a Tigers victory and with the news from Hiroshima good, Carp's chances were almost gone. Osada took over for Tigers ninth and started poorly walking Toritani. Next was Murton who found his first pitch - a 137 kph straight ball - very much to his liking and hit it over the wall for a two run home run 7-3 Tigers and the coup de grace to BayStars hopes. Shibata (replacement right) flew out to centre and Arai struck out looking then Fujii walked. Imanari (pinch hitter) also walked and Tigers had runners on first and second. Saka (replacement third), though, could only hit weakly back to Osada and ground out to end the innings. Fukuhara took over for BayStars ninth and retired the batters 1-2-3 for the victory. It was that easy (for a change).

Tigers had done what was necessary and won in style. Akiyama had been unfortunate after all his hard work but he really isn't well prepared. Tsutsui picked up the victory but the unnecessary involvement of Fujii was really not welcome. Tigers move to Tokyo for the next game of the make up series at Jingu against Swallows.