May 3rd Andoh v Ogasawara - Hirano's big day

Tigers overwhelmed and destroyed the Dragons to give them a very good start to the Golden Week games. Andoh picked up his fourth win and Hirano his first home run in Tigers colours. Baldris also made his first appearance. Line scores

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Tigers  2 0 1 3 0 0 0 0 3 9 16 0
Dragons 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1  6 1

Starting lineups

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

Dragons
1. Araki (Second)
2. Ibata (Short)
3. Morino (Centre)
4. Woods (First)
5. Wada (Left)
6. Lee (Right)
7. Nakamura (Third)
8. Tanishige (Catcher)
9. Ogasawara (Pitcher)

Of course Sugiyama at right didn't last long. He was replaced by Hirano whilst Sekimoto moved to second and Imaoka took the third base. Imaoka's first at bat was as pinch hitter. Tigers start was all they could have wished for. Akahoshi struck out but Hirano hit. Up came Arai who launched his third home run of the season into the left centre stand 2-0 Tigers. Kanemoto flew out but Imaoka hit. However, Toritani grounded out to Ibata to end the innings. Still a very good start. This continued in the Dragons first. Araki hit and made second on a Morino ground out. But by then there were two outs and the final batter Woods struck out swinging. The second saw a Sekimoto hit and he was bunted to second by Andoh but nothing happened after this. The Dragons second involved a Lee walk but they couldn't make anything of this. Unlike Atchison who struggles with the Dragons lower order Andoh has no such problems. So to the third, Hirano hit and then Arai hit. Runners on first and second with no outs. Kanemoto grounded out driving Hirano to third and the next batter Imaoka launched a fly to centre. Hirano charged home and the score was 3-0 Tigers. Toritani hit to set up runners on first and second but the last batter Yano struck out swinging. The Dragons third was quiet with the side being retired in order.

The Tigers fourth started with a Sekimoto fly out. Then Andoh hit, followed by Akahoshi. This brought up Hirano who launched his first home run - it flew along the base line and just crept in - in Tigers colours 6-0 Tigers. Arai walked but Kanemoto and Imaoka both failed at the innings ended. One could sense the game was out of reach of the Dragons but the Tigers have blown such a lead against the same team before. The Dragons fourth hinted at this with a Woods straight home run 6-1 Tigers. It also involved a Wada hit but a Lee double play made sure that any revival was not going to happen that innings. In the fifth Sekimoto walked and for the Dragons Tanishige hit but no one did anything with either of these runners. For the sixth Hirano hit and then stole second. Kanemoto walked setting up runners on first and second with two outs. However, Imaoka did his usual trick and was out to end the innings. The Dragons sixth and seventh were quiet and Andoh retired the Dragons batters in order. The Tigers seventh though started with a Toritani walk and he advanced to second on a Yano ground out. He then stole third. Sekimoto walked and Andoh tried to bunt but was out with three failed bunts. The final batter Akahoshi stranded the runners. The eighth saw Kanemoto get his first hit of the game but nothing happened, Imaoka grounding out to strand him.

Now we come to Andoh's biggest challenge, the eighth innings. The leadoff batter Tanishige flew out. Tatsunami (pinch hitter) grounded out. Two outs which would be vital. Next up Araki hit and then Ibata. Runners on first and third with two outs. The third batter Morino walked loading the bases. This left Andoh facing Woods. He struck Woods out swinging in straight strikes to end the innings. He had thrown 130 pitches and given up six hits for one run. He had walked only two. He had pitched up to his limit but had done what was necessary. Takahashi pitched the Tigers ninth and immediately ran into trouble. Toritani, Yano and Sekimoto all hit to load the bases with no outs. Next up the new signing Baldris who took a dead ball. A walk in run 7-1 Tigers. Akahoshi struck out and Hirano grounded out but Arai hit 8-1 Tigers. The final run came from a fielding error after Arai's RBI to centre. The fielder either failed to take the ball or messed up the throw. The runners had paused the runner on third saw his chance and sprinted for the home plate. The runners on first and second stayed on base. Egusa took the Dragons final innings and of course had no problems with a shell shocked Dragons side. All three batters he faced were strike outs. Victory Tigers.

An excellent victory. Dragons had been comprehensively beaten. The Tigers batting had piled on the pressure and the Dragons in this game had been found wanting. Hirano had had a magnificent game with four hits - one of them the home run. Arai had also had a good game with three hits, two of them scoring. The whole Tigers nine had hit in a sixteen hit feast.


[Edited by: Christopher on May 27, 2008 7:38 AM]