April 13th Fukuhara v Wood - Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat

It looks like Kanemura is going to spend a bit more time in ni-gun. He isn't judged quite ready yet. Yesterday Fukuhara had a good day was in the ascendency and we had a hard fought Tigers victory. On to the line scores

         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Tigers   0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 3 10 0
BayStars 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1  7 1

Starting linups

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

BayStars
1. Ishii (Short)
2. Nishi (Second)
3. Kinjoh (Centre)
4. Murata (Third)
5. Saeki (First)
6. Uchikawa (Right)
7. Bigbie (Left)
8. Aikawa (Catcher)
9. Wood (Pitcher)

Akahoshi lead off with a hit. He was bunted to second by Hirano and then Wood dead balled Arai. Runners on first and second with one out and next Kanemoto. However he grounded out into a double play to end the innings. The BayStars first started with Ishii grounding out and Nishi hitting. However, Kinjoh and Murata rapidly fell to a fly out and ground out respectively. Starting the second Imaoka hit towards Ishii who fumbled and allowed Imaoka to reach first. Toritani struck out but then Ford walked (indicating that Wood was having early difficulties with his control). Yano hit to load the bases with one out and Fukuhara was next. He grounded into a double play though, hitting the ball right back at Wood - end of innings still no score. Uchikawa had BayStars second hit of the day and tried to steal second. He was thrown out and then Fukuhara struck out Bigbie to end the innings.

Onto the third and fourth where both sides went down in order. Top of the fifth and Ford took his second walk. He was joined on base by Yano who hit - runners on first and second with no outs and the next batter Fukuhara. He bunted pushing both runners round to second and third. Round to Akahoshi who hit a grounder to short. Ford went for home only to be thrown out with Akahoshi safe on first. The final batter of the innings was Hirano (who is in a bit of a slump and not hitting well) who grounded out to end the innings. Fukuhara cruised through the bottom of the fifth and so onto the sixth. Leading off Arai hit and then tried to steal second. He wasn't as successful as the day before and was thrown out. Kanemoto struck out and Imaoka hit but Toritani grounded out to Nishi to end that challenge. The BayStars leadoff for the sixth, Aikawa, hammered a two base hit. Wood tried to bunt him round to third but was out with three failed bunts. Ishii grounded out to first and Aikawa hustled to third but with two outs. Next was Nishi who Fukuhara walked but still there were two outs. However, Kinjoh stroked a ball to right and Aikawa was home 1-0 BayStars. Murata walked to load the bases but Saeki struck out to end the innings.

In Tigers seventh Fukuhara had a hit and arrived at first with one out. Advancing too far from first he was picked off and out to end the innings. Given his performance Okada continued with him into the seventh. He gave up a hit to Bigbie but retired the rest of the side. Wood also continued and gave up a three base hit to Akahoshi who used his speed and a good fall of the ball to get round to third. Next up was Hiyama - he was meant to hit a sacrifice fly. He worked the count full before hitting a glancing blow to left. Akahoshi tagged up ready for the catch and Hiyama raced for first. The ball though didn't land in Bigbie's glove but bounced just before he snagged it making it a hit. Hiyama was safe on first. Bigbie sent the ball flying to Aikawa at home plate and then Hiyama took off for second. His boldness was rewarded and Tigers had runners on second and third with no outs. Fujimoto pinch running for Hiyama.

Ohya replaced Wood with Kizuka who faced Arai as his first batter. Until Akahoshi's hit Tigers had been wilting but now they were re-energized. Arai stroked the ball to centre and it was 1-1 scores level with a runner on third and first and no outs. Ohya went to Matt White - he didn't fare any better. He faced Kanemoto who also hit to centre 2-1 Tigers with runners on first and third and no outs. Imaoka flew out, no score there but Toritani grounded out to second and Arai was home 3-1 Tigers. Ford struck out but Tigers had turned the game around. Of course Okada went to Kubota for the eighth - he got Ishii with a foul fly and struck out Nishi but then Kinjoh hit. Murata refused to swing and walked bringing up Saeki. He however, did swing and struck out to end the innings. Tigers faced Yokoyama in the ninth and couldn't get past him and so to the final innings and Fujikawa. He allowed another hit to Aikawa but as he already had two outs he faced Suzuki (pinch hitter) with confidence and got him to ground out to end the game. A good victory for the Tigers - when the chance had come they had seized it.

Fukuhara had pitched well - he had managed seven innings and given up only one run and two walks. Wood also pitched well but probably was asked to do a bit too much. Once again a good fight by the BayStars but Tigers quality and ability to seize a chance had been too much for them.