July 8th Iwata v Burnside - Burnside fails to make the grade

Iwata's last victory for the Tigers was over the Giants. A good performance by the pitcher and good batting saw the Tigers win comfortably. The game also saw the return of Hirano to the top team.

       1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Giants 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 3 10 0
Tigers 2 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 X 5 11 1

Starting lineups

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

Giants
1. Takahashi (Right)
2. Kimura (Second)
3. Ogasawara (First)
4. Ramirez (Left)
5. Tani (Centre)
6. Abe (Catcher)
7. Sakamoto (Short)
8. Iwadate (Third)
9. Burnside (Pitcher)

Iwata started by retiring the Giants in order. Burnside started by getting Akahoshi to fly out and then giving up a hit to Sekimoto. Arai was next and his two base put Sekimoto on third. Kanemoto struck out but Lin hit and two Tigers were home 2-0 Tigers. Toritani walked to put runners on first and second but Yano struck out to end the innings. Still a very good start. Iwata ran into trouble in the second - Ramirez walked, then Abe and Sakamoto hit to load the bases with one out. The next batter was Iwadate who hit into a double play and the Tigers escaped. Tigers second saw Akahoshi hit and steal second but he did not advance any further and the score remained the same. Giants third and the side was retired in order. Tigers third and Arai led off with a hit which was extinguished by a Kanemoto double play. The innings ended quietly. The Giants tried again in their fourth. Ogasawara led off with a hit and one out later Tani hit to put runners on first and second. This time it was Abe's turn to hit into a double play and the innings was over.

Burnside ran into trouble again in the Tigers fourth. With two outs he walked Baldris. One would have thought that this was the end of the innings as the next batter was Iwata. He hit and then Akahoshi hit to load the bases. Sekimoto hit driving in a run 3-0 Tigers and load the bases again. Burnside balked 4-0 Tigers and then walked Arai to load the bases again. Hara had had enough and Yamaguchi replaced Burnside for the final out. This was Kanemoto who lined out and ended the innings. In response Giants fifth was quiet. Tigers fifth was also exciting, Katsuragi (replacement right) led off with a hit. One out later Yano walked and then Baldris hit to drive Katsuragi in 5-0 Tigers. Iwata tried to bunt the batters round but failed and finally Akahoshi grounded out and the innings was over. Giants finally got on the scoreboard in their sixth. Takahashi had a two base hit. One out later Ogasawara hit and Giants had runners on first and third. Ramirez grounded out to Iwata but then Abe had a two base hit 5-1 Tigers with runners on second and third. Abe flew out and the innings was over.

Tigers sixth started with a Sekimoto hit and two outs later he tried to steal second. This was unusual for him and naturally he failed. The innings finished. Iwata had retired at the end of the sixth after a good performance. He had got himself into difficult situations but had had enough to get out and had pitched economically. Kubota pitched the Giants seventh and retired the side in order striking out Sakamoto and Shimizu on the way. Tigers seventh was likewise quiet with everyone grounding out. Williams got the three batters he faced in the Giants eighth to ground out. Tigers eighth also passed without any action of note. Fujikawa pitched the ninth and ran into one of his rare bouts of trouble. The first batter Ramirez hammered his first pitch for a solo home run 5-2 Tigers. Tani grounded out but then Fujikawa failed to collect an Abe ground out and the Giants catcher was safe on first. Sakamoto hit and Giants had runners on first and second. The second out fell - a flyout. Then Furuki (replacement third) hit and Abe was home 5-3 Tigers - runners on first and third and things were looking dangerous. Fujikawa walked Takahashi and the bases were loaded - more danger. The final batter was Suzuki and he flew out to short to end the game - Tigers victory.

In the end a hard fought victory. Fujikawa had had problems but had managed to preserve the victory. In this match Lin damaged his knee and had to retire. He is due back around 20th August but will miss the Olympics because of his injury.