Jingu and the Swallows

March 15th Tigers first visit to the capital this year. They play two games against the Giants on Sunday and Monday but before that they played the Swallows. This was a game in which the Swallows wasted their chances 13 hits to 5 by the Tigers and a 4-4 tie was the result with the Swallows just grabbing the tie in the ninth. Many thanks to Michael for explaining how to correctly align the line scores.

          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9  R  H  E
Tigers    0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0  4  5  0
Swallows  0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 1  4  13 0

Starting lineups were
1. Akahoshi (Centre)
2. Sekimoto (Second)
3. Arai (First)
4. Kanemoto (DH)
5. Imaoka (Third)
6. Toritani (Short)
7. Ford (Right)
8. Yano (Catcher)
9. Sakurai (Left)
Starting pitcher was Andoh

For Swallows
1. Kawashima (Left)
2. Tanaka (Second)
3. Aoki (Centre)
4. Riggs (First)
5. Guiel (Right)
6. Iihara (Third)
7. Kawabata (Short)
8. Fukukawa (Catcher)
9. Yuichi (DH)
Starting pitcher was Takai

Of the two starting pitchers Takai started the brightest, in his first three innings he gave up one walk with no hits. Andoh managed a walk and two hits (not bad at all either). Takai's troubles started in the fourth. Sekimoto was the first batter up and he smashed a centre home run 1-0 Tigers. This didn't seem to be too much of a concern as Arai grounded out but then Takai walked Kanemoto. His pitching then went to pieces. He baulked moving Kanemoto to second and then Toritani hit a double which drove Kanemoto home 2-0 Tigers. Ford got a dead ball and then Yano hit to load the bases. Luckily for Swallows Sakurai flew out to end the innings.

Andoh also managed to get into trouble in the fourth. Aoki hit a double and then Guiel was dead balled. Iihara walked to load the bases but Andoh was able to strike out Fukukawa to end the innings and preserve the 2-0 lead. Takai's woes, though, continued in the fifth. He dead balled Hirano (replacement second) and then gave up a two run home run to Asai who was pinch hitting for Kanemoto 4-0 Tigers. Andoh was then called up for his fifth innings and managed to get into more trouble. This time he couldn't escape the consequences.

Yuichi, Kawashima and Tanaka all hit to load the bases with no out. Aoki then hit a sacrifice fly 4-1 Tigers. Kawashima tried to steal third and was thrown out when he should have waited as Riggs hit a double. This drove in Tanaka 4-2 Tigers. Guiel then drove in Riggs 4-3 and Iihara flew out to end the innings. We then had a quiet period - Abe took over in the sixth and struck out both batters he faced with Tamaki finishing the innings. Hirano hit in the seventh and Tortani walked in the eighth. These were the last two times Tigers players got on base.

Swallows increased their pressure in the eighth but stranded runners on first and third and Egusa was summoned to close the ninth. He gave up a hit immediatley and then surrendered a run to Miyade who was pinch hitting for Fukuchi (replacement right). He went on to load the bases but the final batter Iihara hit a third ground out to end the game.

Once again Tigers had made economical use of their hits (4 runs from 5 hits) and their opponents had not done so well (4 runs from 13 hits). Tigers perhaps could have won the match with a different closer. Both Andoh and Takai pitched economically (82 and 85 pitches respectively) but with a falling off in control towards the ends of their stints. Abe and Hirano once again were good - Hirano is impressively versatile (He started at second and moved to right field and can also play centre).