Murata Fails in the Clutch

Four times in Saturday afternoon's game against the Hiroshima Toyo Carp did Shuichi Murata come up to the plate with at least one runner in scoring position. And four times did the Yokohama BayStars' number four batter go down with a whimper.

The top of the first saw Yokohama starter Shigeru Kaga put down the Carp in order on 4 or 5 pitches. The rookie who quickly went up the ranks from reliever to starter came back to the dugout all smiles. And the BayStar offense offered him some help right away in the bottom half of the first.

Takehiro Ishikawa led off with a base hit to right. He swiped both second and third as Daisuke Hayakawa drew a walk. Then Seiichi Uchikawa drove him in with a single to right, replacing runners at first and third with nobody out. This is the big chance for Yokohama to really break things open from the start. But Murata goes down swinging for out number one. Fortunately, Terrmel Sledge and Jose Castillo have been doing a good job at picking up the pieces that Murata has dropped, in this case Sledge singing in a run and Castillo hitting a sacrifice fly to center. BayStars go up 3-0 after one complete.

The image of a cheerful Kaga coming back to the mound in the first inning didn't last long. In the top of the third, Kaga allowed back to back single to numbers 7 and 8 batters, got the opposing pitcher, Takeshi Komatsu, to ground out to second, advancing both runners. Back to the top of the order and Akihiro Higashide singled in one run, then Eishin Soyogi doubled in another to make it 2-3, still in the BayStars' favor. An out and a walk later brought Jeff Florentino (Fio) to the plate, and he ripped a 2-run RBI single to center to turn the score around 4-3. After Shigenobu Shima grounded out to short to end the inning, Kaga didn't have that smile on his face, or the high fives from his team mates in the dugout. He looked quite lonely there on the far side fo the dugout, away from everyone.

In the bottom of the third, Hayakawa draws a lead off walk and moves to second on a round out to the right side by Uchikawa. So far, so good. The tying run is on second and our number four batter is up. Whoops, except that he's slumping. Murata flies out to center and Sledge goes down swinging.

Uchikawa doubles with one out in the bottom of the fifth inning. Murata grounds out to short, not even able to move the runner along.

A lead-off single by Ishikawa in the 7th, followed by a sacrifice bunt and a walk to Uchikawa put runners at first and second for Murata. But it's still a no-go as Murata goes down swinging and Sledge grounds out to first.

Then came the 9th inning. With runners at the corners and one out, Murta grounds into a game ending double play.

Murata had started off the season 4 for 13 with 3 RBIs and a home run in that first series against Hanshin. He's now 0 for his last 21 at bats. With the top of the order actually getting on this season, Murata has been a huge breaking point in the lineup the past few series. We really need him to break out of this slump if we're ever going to take this or any other series. With the 7-3 loss in the second game of the weekend series, it's on to the rubber match on Sunday afternoon.