May 9th Andoh v Miura - A tale of two pitchers

Miura hasn't been pitching well except against the Tigers. This continued yesterday with a nice effective performance. Andoh was terrible though and the real surprise was not that the BayStars won but that it took them so long to take advantage of Andoh's poor pitching. Even so an Okada mistake helped them put the game out of the Tigers reach. Line scores

         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
BayStars 0 0 3 0 0 1 0 0 2 6 11 1
Tigers   0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 2  4 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. Andoh (Pitcher)

BayStars
1. Ozeki (Left)
2. Nishi (Second)
3. Kinjoh (Centre)
4. Murata (Third)
5. Uchikawa (First)
6. Yoshimura (Right)
7. Ishii (Short)
8. Tsuruoka (Catcher)
9. Miura (Pitcher)

BayStars started well, their leadoff Ozeki hit. The next batter Nishi tried to bunt and in a trend that would continue for the BayStars for almost the entire game failed miserably. Certainly he got to first base but Andoh had all the time to throw out the runner going for second. Kinjoh grounded into a double play to end the innings and you thought OK maybe Andoh is just having a bad first innings. Miura started by walking Akahoshi who was bunted to second by Hirano in a perfect example of how it should be done. He advanced to third on an Arai ground out but then Kanemoto struck out looking to a sublime Miura pitch which he totally failed to read - end of innings. The second started with Andoh walking Murata - then Uchikawa had his first hit of the day. Murata might be fast but today he just lumbered. Still runners on first and second with no outs. The next batter Yoshimura flew out and then Ishii hit - bases loaded one out. A lot of the BayStars hits were to left (seven in all) suggesting Andoh's control was not good and he drifted too much. Tsuruoka though hit into a double play to kill the chance. You began to feel that it was only a matter of time. Miura had no problems in the Tigers second retiring the side in order.

As I said one felt it was only a matter of time before the BayStars scored given Andoh's troubles and the third innings was where it started. Miura hit. Ozeki tried to bunt him to second and made a complete mess of it allowing Arai throw out Miura going for second. Still Ozeki was safe on first. Nishi grounded out and you began to feel that maybe Andoh was settling down. No - unfortunately not. He walked Kinjoh and then left a pitch too high and to the left and Murata pounced on it gratefully for a three run home run 3-0 BayStars. Next up Uchikawa hammered a two base hit to left and you began to wonder. However, the final batter, Yoshimura, flew out to end the innings. Miura continued his progress - once again retiring the Tigers in order. The BayStars fourth was eventful - Ishii hit towards Andoh and the ball bounced kindly off him allowing the BayStar's Short to reach first. Next batter, Tsuruoka, then tried to bunt - another disaster. Yano tried to get to the ball but was impeded by Tsuruoka as Ishii made second. The umpires, of course, called him back and Tsuruoka was given out. Ohya tried to argue that it had been Yano who impeded Tsuruoka but no one bought this. So Ishii was back on first and then allowed himself to be caught off base and tagged out - two outs. One can see why the BayStars are bottom of the league. The final batter, Miura, grounded out. The Tigers fourth saw their first hit - a vicious drive by Arai past Miura and into centre. Kanemoto grounded out to first but got Arai to second and the next batter Katsuragi stepped up to the plate. He flew out to left and the end of the innings.

The BayStars fifth was quiet with the batters falling in order. The Tigers fifth saw a Sekimoto walk but nothing else. The BayStars sixth was more exciting - Uchikawa had his third hit of the night, another two base. Next up Yoshimura hit to drive him in 4-0 BayStars. The final two batters though didn't go anywhere and the innings ended. Miura started the Tigers sixth with an Akahoshi hit. Then Hirano hit towards Murata who lumbered in and failed to take the ball for what was an error. Runners on first and second with no outs. Arai flew out to right and Akahoshi tagged up and flew to third. Hirano was locked on first as the throw from right was good. Next batter Kanemoto hit a deep sacrifice fly and Akahoshi was home 4-1 BayStars. Katsuragi struck out to end the innings though. Andoh pitched the BayStars seventh and gave up a hit to Ozeki, the second batter he faced. Ozeki tried to steal second but was thrown out. The final batter Nishi struck out to end the innings. So to the Tigers seventh and this was pitched by Hughes. Miura had thrown 97 pitches, striking out 8, walking two and giving up two hits. A very effective piece of work. Hughes got Toritani to fly out and then dead balled Yano. Okada went with pinch hitters next, Hiyama and Imaoka but neither did anything and the innings ended.

For the BayStars eighth Abe was summoned. He struck out the first two batters he faced, Kinjoh and Murata in demonstration to Andoh of how it should be done. Then he got Uchikawa to fly out. Next pitcher for the BayStars - Yokoyama who immediatley got into trouble. Akahoshi hit, Hirano walked, Arai hit bases loaded no outs. Kanemoto hit a sacrifice fly 4-2 BayStars - not what was needed and one felt a good chance had been wasted. Katsuragi grounded out and Hirano advanced to third but the final batter Toritani struck out to end the innings. The BayStars had needed a bit of luck in that innings and had got it. Abe continued into the ninth, he got Yoshimura to ground out to short and then walked Ishii. Tsuruoka bunted Ishii to second (the only BayStars bunt which worked) and then Okada made his mistake. He replaced Abe with Nohmi for the final out. Nohmi was not convincing coming in with runners on in his last appearance and would prove so again. Okada should have left Abe to get the final out. Nohmi faced Bigbie (pinch hitter) who got a high straight ball which he despatched into the right stand for his first home run in Japan 6-2 BayStars and really the killer blow. Terahara closed off the game retiring the Tigers in order. BayStars victory.

Whilst Andoh had pitched poorly though surprisingly economically (his seven innings took 99 pitches) it is unlikely that the Tigers could have overhauled the BayStars in the ninth innings but it would have been more possible if Okada had not gone with Nohmi but allowed Abe to get the final out. BayStars made effective use of their long ball game to secure a well earned victory.