Taiho Homers Not So Grand for Yakult

Sunday's game between the Hanshin Tigers and the Yakult
Swallows was another exciting battle, though unfortunately for the Jingu contingent, they took it on the chin in this one, as Tiger first baseman Yasuaki Taiho provided the fans in the rightfield stands with a couple of souvenirs, one of them a grand slam in the top of the third inning, powering the Osaka based team to a 7-4 win. It also ended the eight game winning streak by the Swallows over Hanshin.

After Yakult starter Don Lemon got the Tigers out in order in the first, his mates took a 1-0 lead by combining an infield hit by centerfielder Tetsuya Iida, an error by Taiho, and a groundout by second baseman Takahiro Ikeyama for the game's first run.

Unfortunately, Taiho then came up in the top of the third and hammered a 2-1 change up to even the score. Taiho is having a terrible year with the bat, as his average was only .205 coming into tonight's game. But on this evening he might as well been Sadaharu Oh as far as the Swallows were concerned, because in the succeeding frame, Lemon
plunked rightfielder Tomochika Tsuboi with a pitch and then walked leftfielder Micah Franklin and surrendered a single to left by centerfielder Tsuyoshi Shinjoh, loading the bases. Lemon tried to sneak a ball inside on Taiho and Taiho cleared the bases with a high drive into the bleachers in right, making the score 5-1 and giving him 12 homers for the year.

Yakult responded by scoring on singles by Iida, first baseman Roberto Petagini and catcher Atsuya Furuta, closing the gap to 5-2, but they couldn't sustain the rally further.

In the fifth, Iida walked and then was driven home when Ikeyama crushed a low fastball against the wind, which was blowing from left to right, into the leftfield seats to bring Yakult within a run. This was Ikeyama's second homer in as many nights and his third in four games. It was all the scoring the club would do, as Hanshin added another tally in the sixth with an RBI single by Tsuboi and Shinjoh blasted his 17th roundtripper of the year over the leftcenterfield wall in the seventh to make the final margin of the Tiger victory, 7-4.

This loss cost the Swallows in the standings, since the Yomiuri Giants got a complete game 5-0 shutout from seldom used righthander Junichi Kawahara against the Chunichi Dragons, once again putting Yakult five games out of first. The Giants seem to be poised to finally run away with the Central League title and it is
therefore incumbent on the Swallows to continue beating up both that team, who they have taken nine of 14 faceoffs from, and the Tigers to stay in contention.