June 15th Tsuru v Kobayashi - The Marines get lucky

Here Okada tried a totally new starting pitcher Tsuru. He was the number one draft pick in 2006 but his debut was awful. One wonders why Sugiyama didn't start or Kojima wasn't called up. Tigers though did show what a strong side they were. Line scores

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9   R  H E
Tigers  0 0 0 0 0 3 0 4 2   9 16 0
Marines 6 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 1x 10 11 0

Starting lineups

1. Akahoshi (Centre)
2. Sekimoto (Third)
3. Arai (First)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Hiyama (DH)
6. Toritani (Short)
7. Ford (Right)
8. Yano (Catcher)
9. Fujimoto (Second)

Starting pitcher was Tsuru

Marines
1. Nishioka (Short)
2. Nemoto (Second)
3. Fukuura (First)
4. Ohmatsu (Right)
5. Satozaki (Catcher)
6. Ortiz (DH)
7. Benny (Left)
8. Imae (Third)
9. Hayakawa (Centre)

Starting pitcher was Kobayashi

Kobayashi would start well and in fact for five innings would be in control. In the first Tigers would be retired in order. Tsuru would start badly - even worse than Atchison. He would not even have the control problems and one wonders which idiot thought he was ready for the first team? He started with a hit to Nishioka - then a hit to Nemoto (his only one of the game). Runners on first and third with no outs. Fukuura hit 1-0 Marines. Ohmatsu walked - bases loaded no outs. Satozaki was next and he had a two run timely hit 3-0 Marines. Ortiz had a two base 4-0 Marines and Okada had had enough. Tsuru had thrown 25 pitches with no outs. Egusa was summoned and promptly gave up a hit to Benny 6-0 Marines. Imae lined out and Benny was caught off base - two outs. Hayakawa hit and stole second - Yano's throwing to second was his usual apalling standard. Nishioka walked but Nemoto reverting to his form for the game grounded out. Tigers second saw Toritani walk but nothing came of it. Marines second saw Fukuura hit. Ohmatsu walked and Marines had runners on first and second with no outs. Satozaki flew out which moved Fukuura to third and then Ortiz hit a sacrifice fly 7-0 Marines. They were off to a great start and looked in control. Benny struck out looking to end the innings. Tigers third saw Kobayashi face a stern challenge. Yano hit but Fujimoto flew out. Akahoshi grounded out but then Sekimoto hit moving Yano to third. Arai hit and the bases were loaded with two outs. What would Kanemoto do - as it turned out he grounded out to first and the Marines escaped without damage.

Egusa's third innings was much better - the Marines were retired in order. So to the Tigers fourth and Kobayashi was once again in control - Tigers went nowhere. The Marines fourth also saw them go nohwere - Egusa was in control. In the fifth Yano hit but was caught by a Fujimoto double play and then Akahoshi grounded out. Hashimoto pitched the Marines fifth and walked Benny but this didn't result in anything. The sixth arrived and Kobayashi went to pieces. Sekimoto hit a two base to left. Then Arai hit a two base to right. Sekimoto only made third though and once again you must ask what was Wada (third base coach) thinking. The run was there for the taking. Kanemoto hit to centre and a superb diving catch by Hayakawa. This couldn't prevent the run though 7-1 Marines. Hiyama was next and he slammed a two base 7-2 Marines. Toritani grounded out which moved Hiyama to third and then Ford hit 7-3 Marines. Yano struck out to end the innings but a good innings by the Tigers. Still four runs difference. Marines sixth started with Hayakawa flying out. Then Nishioka walked. He stole second with another ridiculous Yano throw and moved to third on Nemoto's ground out. Fukuura walked and then Ohmatsu slammed one along the the first base line for a three base hit. Two runners home 9-3 Marines. The final batter Satozaki grounded out to end the innings. The Tigers seventh saw Ono retire the batters in order and one sensed that the Marines were going to win comfortably.

Taiyo pitched the Marines seventh and had no trouble retiring them. The Tigers eighth started with Ono again. He gave up a hit to Arai and then faced Kanemoto. His second pitch was slammed to right for a two run home run 9-5 Marines. Hiyama was next and he hit a two base. That prompted a pitching change to Takagi who got Toritani to ground out and moved Hiyama to third. Another pitching change and Kubo took the mound. He faced Katsuragi (pinch hitter) and his second pitch was a straight ball in the zone. Katsuragi hammered it into the left stand for a two run home run 9-7 Marines. Yano hit and then Akahoshi walked. Next batter Sekimoto also hit to load the bases. Sikorski was summoned and he faced Arai. Arai swung at everything he was offered and struck out in three. More care might have produced better results.

Williams was brought in for the Marines eighth a sure sign that Okada considered the match winnable. He got the first out and then gave up a hit to Nishioka. Once again the Marines shortstop was able to steal second on a poor Yano throw. This didn't affect Williams who struck out Nemoto and then Fukuura to end the innings. For the Tigers ninth Valentine went with Ogino - a reasonable choice as he had been effective the day before. This time was different. Kanemoto slammed a two base. Then Hiyama hit - runners on first and third with no outs. Hiyama was pinch run for by Shuta. Toritani hit 9-8 Marines and a marvelous comeback was on the cards. Katsuragi was next with a runner on third and no outs. He struck out this time - next was Yano. He didn't make any mistake and hit a centre sacrifice fly 9-9 scores level. Marines had blown a six run lead. Final batter was Baldris who struck out. The Marines ninth saw Watanabe take the mound. Saburo grounded out then Satozaki flew out and there were already two outs. Ortiz walked and this brought up Zuleta. He took the first two strikes and then slammed a slider to left centre for a two base hit. Ortiz flew round the bases and dived on the home plate for the winning run and an undeserved victory (any team which squanders nine runs does not deserve to win).

A superb fightback by the Tigers had not received its just reward. Why Tsuru was used as a starter is one of the big question marks of the game. Sugiyama would have been better. One cannot see the Marines advancing past B class this year - their bullpen was abysmal and this will prove to be a problem against teams with good pitching and batting. Tigers have their worst losing streak of the year (three games) but showed considerable spirit in fighting back.