May 5th Sugiyama v Nakata - Nakata is hung out to dry

The prospect of Sugiyama going up against Nakata was not exactly encouraging but it turned out quite differently. Sugiyama put in a very effective performance and Nakata was terrible. Also encouraging was Nohmi's performance in relief. Sugiyama's injury is not thought to be too much of a problem and he should be able to pitch his next match. Line scores

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9  R  H E
Tigers  7 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 10 13 0
Dragons 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0  4  8 0

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

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. Nakata (Pitcher)

Nakata's first innings was abysmal. First Akahoshi had a two base hit. Then Hirano hit a little infield ball and beat Nakata's throw to first. Runners on first and third with no outs. Arai toyed with Nakata a bit and then hit over Ibata driving in Akahoshi 1-0 Tigers, runners on first and second with no outs. Kanemoto walked, bases loaded. Next batter Katsuragi. He bounced the ball over Nakamura for a left hit 3-0 Tigers, runners on first and second no outs. Toritani hammered a long two base to right which hit the base of the wall 4-0 Tigers, runners on second and third no outs. Next batter was Yano who put his third pitch and first strike just over Wada's despairing leap at left 6-0 Tigers Yano on third. Then came Sekimoto - he hit a deep sacrifice fly to centre 7-0 Tigers and the first out! This is the biggest innings of the season for the Tigers and the dream start. For Nakata, though, a nightmare. Next batter was Sugiyama, he struck out and then Akahoshi grounded out to end the innings. Tigers batters had been able to chose when to hit and Nakata (whose previous record against Tigers had been very good) hadn't been able to do anything about it. So to Sugiyama's first, how would he fare against the Dragons given that they were bound to hit back and he isn't Tigers best pitcher? Very well as it turned out. Crucially he was able to get the first out in almost all his innings before anyone hit. So Araki grounded out. Ibata hit and then Sugiyama walked Morino. Woods flew out and so the Dragons had runners on first and second with two outs. Next up was Wada. He hit a long ball to centre. Akahoshi went back to take and with his back to the wall jumped. The ball was just too high and both runners sped home 7-2 Tigers - a three base hit to Wada. The final batter was Lee who Sugiyama got to strike out swinging.

Nakata (perhaps surprisingly) returned for the second and was quite effective getting Hirano, Arai and Kanemoto to ground out. Sugiyama also settled down a bit and got the Dragons out in order, Nakamura, centre fly, Tanishige short fly and Nakata third ground out. The third was once again started by Nakata. His first batter, Katsuragi bounced one over Nakata for a centre hit. Next batter Toritani slammed another two base, runners on second and third - no outs again. Then came Yano - he drove his first pitch back past Nakata for a centre field hit 8-2 Tigers. Sekimoto tried to hit over Ibata but the Dragons short stop was equal to the challenge - one out. Sugiyama struck out and then came Akahoshi who walked to load the bases. Next Hirano, by now Nakata's control was not good and he walked Hirano 9-2 Tigers - walk in run. The final batter Arai struck out to end the innings.

For the Dragons third Sugiyama walked Morino again but got out of the innings safely. So to the Tigers fourth. Ochiai had had enough and Nakata was replaced by Nagamine. Nakata had pitched very poorly and given up nine runs on 93 pitches in three innings. He had walked 3 and allowed 9 hits. This is the worst performance I have ever seen from him. Back to Nagamine who got everyone to ground out. In the Dragons fourth Sugiyama had his first and only leadoff hit which was Wada. Lee lined out to Toritani and Nakamura lined out to Hirano who made a superb diving take to dismiss the Dragons third base. The next batter Tanishige hit putting the ball past Arai who had no chance and setting up runners on first and second with two outs. This brought up Inoue (pinch hitting for Nagamine). He smote a ball to right - a massive hit but not far enough and Katsuragi was waiting under it when it came down - end of innings. Dragons next pitcher was Kongoh who kept the Tigers fifth quiet. This was also the case for the Dragons fifth with the side being retired in order. The Tigers sixth saw Arai launch a two base hit which sailed just over Morino's glove, two out runner on second. Next was Kanemoto who hit deep to centre but this time Morino was under it to end the innings.

In the sixth it was Sekimoto's turn to shine, two great line catches stopped the first two batters getting on base but the next batter Lee was able to put the ball past Sekimoto for a hit. The final batter, Nakamura struck out to a delightful piece of pitching. Kongoh pitched the Tigers seventh and got the first two batters but then Yano had a two base hit (which moved the commentator to say 'Yano wa genki desu'. Literally Yano is healthy but here it means in good form). He advanced to third on a wild pitch and then Sekimoto slammed a centre hit past Kongoh for the run 10-2 Tigers. Sugiyama got the first two outs in the Dragons seventh and then faced Araki. A hit. Next Ibata, he hit a deep two base and once again Araki showed his pace by going from first to home 10-3 Tigers. Here Sugiyama called a halt. He was experiencing discomfort with his right leg and didn't feel he could continue. A wise decision, the victory was more important. A conference followed between Okada and Kubo (pitching coach) and Nohmi was summoned. He left a pitch a bit too high and Morino slammed it for a deep two base. Ibata was home 10-4 Tigers. Dragons fans were ecstatic - they were sure the team was going to come back. Woods was next. He had a lucky escape when a swing was ruled to be checked in time and then he swung and partially got hold of a pitch. This flew to right and once again Katsuragi was there to take the catch and end the innings.

That was really it for the Dragons. Takahashi pitched the Tigers eighth and ninth. He gave up a hit to Arai in the eighth but nothing came of it. The Tigers ninth was quiet. Nohmi pitched the Dragons eighth and ninth and showed his best side. He was cool and in control striking out four on his way to the victory. The last batter was Araki who struck out swinging. Tigers victory.

Great batting, superb fielding and some assured pitching had seen the Tigers take the series in style. Of course, it could be said that the match was over by the third innings but this would be to under-estimate the Dragons. They were always a danger and Tigers couldn't relax at all. Sugiyama had pitched six and two thirds effective innings. The fact that he gave up four runs indicates how potent the Dragons are. He got the necessary outs and kept the Dragons under control and didn't let his pride get in the way of the victory.