May 26th Shimoyanagi v Hsu - Kanemoto's sayonara hit

The big move before the game was the demotion of Imaoka to the farm team. Takahashi was called up in his place. The game itself was tight - the two strongest teams in their respective leagues. This time Tigers were the stronger - in fact once the game went into extra innings it rather seemed a matter of when not if. Line scores

       1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11  R  H E
Lions  0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0  0  0  1  8 0
Tigers 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0  0 1x  2 13 0

Starting lineups

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

Lions
1. Kataoka (Second)
2. Kuriyama (Left)
3. Nakajima (Short)
4. Brazell (First)
5. G. G. Satoh (Right)
6. Nakamura (Third)
7. Bocachica (Centre)
8. Ginjiro (Catcher)
9. Hsu (Pitcher)

Seibu's first would start with a hit. For the most part they found Shimoyanagi difficult to deal with and this was one of his better performances. Anyway the hit came after two outs and was unrewarded as the final out also fell. Hsu also started well and would continue in that vein but not last as long as the Tiger's pitcher. He retired the first three batters in order. Shimoyanagi is often vulnerable early and in Seibu's second G. G. Satoh hit. Nakamura hit into a double play and there were two outs. Next came Bocachica who swung at one and lifted it high along the third baseline into the stand. The third base umpire started to rule this a home run but both Sekimoto and Kanemoto protested that it had been foul. Okada came out of the dugout to also argue the point and after a consultation the umpires agreed that it should be called a foul ball not a home run. A lucky escape and who knows what would have happened if the home run had been allowed. It was a difficult call but I think it was foul. Bocachica then walked and tried to steal second but was thrown out to end the innings.

Tigers first had seen Arai do nothing and it was the same for Kanemoto. Both would have quiet games except for one hit by Kanemoto but more of that later. Toritani walked and Yano hit but Sekimoto grounded out to end the innings. In the Lions third Kataoka managed a two base hit but no one supported him and the innings ended scoreless. Akahoshi hit and was bunted to second by Hirano but once again without result. The game and fielding were all very tight. Both halves of the fourth saw the first and last batters strike out, the Lions innings being sandwiched with a flyout and the Tigers with a ground out. Bocachica managed to get himself caught off base by a liner after his second walk in the Lions fifth. For the Tigers version Sekimoto hit. Shimoyanagi tried to bunt and the catcher Ginjiro went for second to get Sekimoto. He was too late and Shimoyanagi was also safe. Akahoshi grounded out moving Sekimoto round to third. Hirano, who is becoming more and more of a hitter, hit to centre to put Sekimoto home 1-0 Tigers. This left runners on first and second but Arai flew out to end the innings.

Seibu then lifted their game. Hirao (pinch hitting for Hsu) flew out but Kataoak hit. Then Kuriyama hit - runners on first and third with one out. Next batter Nakajima hit 1-1 scores level runners on first and second still with one out. The final batter Brazell hit straight to Hirano and into a double play - end of innings. Seibu's relief Ohnuma kept Tigers quiet in the sixth and the score remained level. Shimoyanagi pitched the Lions seventh and was cool and in control. He retired the side in order and his stint was finished. He had pitched seven innings using 91 pitches and given up six hits and two walks for only one run. A fine performance. Yano had his second hit of the night in the seventh and was bunted to second. Watanabe decided Ohnuma had to go and Hoshino appeared. He struck out Hiyama and walked Akahoshi before finally getting Hirano to ground out. Kubota started the Lions eighth quite well, he struck out Ginjiro but then he walked Ishii (replacement third). Next he gave up a hit to Kataoka - runners on first and second with one out. Kubota was in a bind. This time he didn't lose his cool but got Nakajima to ground out into a double play. This was really Seibu's last challenge of the game.

In the Tigers eighth Ford took a dead ball (Lion's pitcher throwing his inside pitch a little too inside) but nothing happened. The ninth followed with a Nakajima hit but Kubota struck the next two batters out and the third one grounded out. Tigers ninth was different. Yano hit again, Sekimoto bunted him to second and then Takahashi (pinch hitter) hit to centre. Yano went to third and stopped. He really should have tried for home - he has done this before, not tried too hard to make the home plate. One can only contrast this with Ford in the game against Hawks who didn't stop and scored the go ahead run. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Akahoshi was next and with one out a sacrifice fly would have worked. However, he hit a grounder straight to third. Now Yano tried for home and was thrown out. Akahoshi was safe but Yano hadn't done well. Then Hirano hit and one expected Akahoshi to try for home but he didn't and the bases were loaded. One must also question the role of the third base coach - maybe too conservative. Arai grounded out and the chance was missed. The game went into extra innings. Fujikawa pitched the 10th. He had no problems retiring his three batters in order.

The Seibu pitcher for the Tigers 10th (and in fact for part of the ninth) was Graman. He would not impress this game. He got Kanemoto to ground out but then gave up a hit to Ford. Next batter, Toritani also hit but Yano grounded out. Ford moved round to third but Sekimoto grounded out. Would Tigers ever finish the Lions off? Okada turned to Watanabe for the 11th. He was keen to erase the memory of his meltdown against Orix and blew the Seibu batters away in eight pitches. So Graman faced the Tigers again. Baldris grounded out - one down two to go. Akahoshi hit, Hirano tried a bunt hit and got away with it. Runners on first and second. Arai grounded out to second - two out, one to go, runners advanced to second and third. Next batter Kanemoto - surely a deliberate walk. The Tigers number four took a strike and a ball before pulling a low slider around from his right and sending it into the right field. Sayonara hit - 2-1 Tigers and victory.

A hard fought victory. Both teams had given practically nothing away and the pitching had been of the highest order. Seibu were tiring in the extra innings - once again having a relief of the quality that Tigers possessed did show through. Maybe more incisive running could have finished the match earlier but the team had held together to continue to generate winning chances and to take them.