April 1st Atchison v Takahashi - Almost comfortable

The Tiger's second series started brightly. Atchison pitched his first game as starter, Kanemoto's hitting streak continued and Ford had his first hit in Tigers colours. Line scores

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

Line ups

1. Akahoshi (Centre)
2. Hirano (Second)
3. Arai (First)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Imaoka (Third)
6. Tortani (Short)
7. Ford (Right)
8. Yano (Catcher)
9. Atchison (Pitcher)

Carp
1. Amaya (Centre)
2. Ishihara (Catcher)
3. Alex (Right)
4. Kurihara (First)
5. Maeda (Left)
6. Seabol (Third)
7. Soyogi (Short)
8. Higashide (Second)
9. Takahashi (Pitcher)

Tiger's start was very good and sharp. Akahoshi flew out but Hirano hit to right and Arai walked. Up next was Kanemoto who slammed a 1-2 ball to left for his second home run of the season 3-0 to Tigers. Imaoka struck out but Toritani hit. Ford had his first hit of the season a two base to left which left runners on second and third with two outs. Yano followed but he, unfortunately, had a dismal game with runners on base and he grounded out to short. Carp struck back immediately - Ishihara hit and then stole second (incidently this was another area where Yano had a bad game - Carp's base stealing was prolific). Alex walked and then Maeda hit to left 3-1 Tigers. Seabol grounded out to Toritani to end the innings.

The Tigers second, third and fourth were all quiet - Hirano and Imaoka walked and Akahoshi hit but nothing came of these events. Atchison meanwhile was having to struggle. In the second Soyogi hit and Higashide walked. They promptly engineered a double steal - runners on second and third with no outs. Luckily the next batter was Takahashi, the pitcher. He struck out - one out. Next, Amaya - he grounded out to second where Hirano kept the runners on base - two out. Finally, Ishihara who flew out to right. Atchison had got himself out of trouble. In the third he allowed a hit and likewise the fourth when Takahashi hit and advanced to second on a balk. However, he kept the score at 3-1.

In the fifth Takahashi faced Arai as leadoff. Arai hit, then Kanemoto a two base. Runners on second and third with no outs. Next was Imaoka and Takahashi was not about to have the same luck as Atchison. Imaoka hit his first ball to left 4-1 Tigers. Toritani was next - another hit - 5-1 Tigers. Marty Brown, Hiroshima Kantoku decided enough was enough and Takahashi was replaced by Umetsu who walked Ford to load the bases again still with no outs. Yano had his second failure with runners in scoring positions and struck out. Atchison was next as Okada had decided he would pitch six innings and he struck out. Finally Akahoshi who grounded out. Tigers should have scored more and had wasted a good situation but still had a comfortable lead.

This got a little less comfortable in the bottom of the sixth when Alex hit his first home run of the season off Atchison 5-2 Tigers. In the top of that innings both Arai and Kanemoto had hit but Imaoka had grounded into a double play to end the innings. In the seventh Ford walked and was pinch run for by Fujimoto. Yano bunted him to second but the pinch hitter Katsuragi couldn't do anything and the innings ended. Okada then turned to Egusa who got one out and then gave up a walk. He was replaced by Watanabe who got the next two outs. Why Abe has still not made an appearance is puzzling. One hopes it will be soon.

Hayashi - Brown's choice for the eighth managed to walk both Arai and Kanemoto but got out of the innings without damage. Kubota though didn't fare so well. His control hasn't yet settled down and for the second game in a row he gave up a home run. This time it was to Kurihara 5-3 Tigers. So it was all down to Fujikawa in the ninth. He faced three batters, Nakahigashi (pinch hitter), struck out swinging. Amaya, struck out looking. Morikasa (pinch hitter) struck out swinging - end of game.

A nice win for the Tigers. The streak continues and it was a nice demonstration of having secure closing. The Carp hadn't possessed quite enough on the night to snatch victory. Kanemoto had continued with three hits and three RBIs. Imaoka and Toritani both had RBIs and two hit games. Ford had his first hit of the season. On the debit side Atchison hadn't been very convincing but it was his first outing as a starter. Yano had a poor game but these things happen. He does need to improve his batting though as he left too many runners on in this game. Next up is Shimoyanagi against Miyazaki.