April 4th Nohmi v Yoshinori - Why Nohmi?

Mayumi's first loss followed quickly on the heels of his first victory as Tigers fell to the Swallows in this day game. The legitimate question that needs to be asked is can Nohmi ever show his potential and why are Tigers still prepared to spend so much time on him in preference to Uezono? Nohmi just bled runs without giving up anything spectacular. By contrast Swallow's starter, Yoshinori was excellent keeping the Tigers under control. Box scores

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

Starting lineups

Swallows
1. Fukuchi (Left)
2. Kawashima (Short)
3. Aoki (Centre)
4. D'Antona (First)
5. Guiel (Right)
6. Miyamoto (Third)
7. Tanaka (Second)
8. Aikawa (Catcher)
9. Yoshinori (Pitcher)

Tigers
1. Akahoshi (Centre)
2. Sekimoto (First)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Arai (Third)
6. Mench (Right)
7. Kanoh (Catcher)
8. Hirano (Second)
9. Nohmi (Pitcher)

Nohmi's session started as it would continue with a run. This was a one out home run to Kawashima, a lightweight batter if ever there was one 1-0 Swallows. Nohmi was out to prove anything Ishikawa could do he could do worse. Tigers first saw Toritani pick up a walk but that was all - Yoshinori's control wasn't perfect but he had enough to keep the Tigers under control. The second started with a ground out and then Nohmi gave up hits to Miyamoto and Tanaka in succession setting up runners on first and third. This brought up Aikawa who also hit driving in Miyamoto 2-0. It's early days but Aikawa looks like a good addition to the Swallows lineup. With runners once again on first and third Nohmi lifted his pitching and struck out Yoshinori and then got Fukuchi to ground out. In the bottom Yoshinori dead balled Kanoh but nothing came of this and the Swallows progressed to the top of the third with their lead intact. Here Nohmi gave a leadoff walk to Kawashima. Aoki ended up on first after a double play was just missed. A D'Antona hit took him to third and then he was home once again on a double play that didn't come off 3-0 Swallows. Yoshinori started Tigers third by giving up a rare hit, to Nohmi of all people. He was thrown out on an Akahoshi ground out, Akahoshi being safe on first. Akahoshi being Akahoshi then stole second and Yoshinori walked Toritani. Kanemoto was next and he drove the ball into centre for a run 3-1 Swallows. Yoshinori dead balled Arai next to load the bases but struck out Mench (who still hasn't found his touch yet) to get out of the innings. All in all quite exciting.

Amazingly Nohmi managed to get through the fourth without giving up a run but not for want of trying. He gave up a leadoff hit to Tanaka who was out in a double play. Then he managed to walk Yoshinori before getting the ineffective Fukuchi to fly out. In the Tigers fourth Yoshinori walked Kanoh who was bunted to second by Nohmi but then watched as Akahoshi struck out looking in three to end that chance. Nohmi set about proving that his scoreless innings was an aberation and started by walking Kawashima. An error put Aoki on first and the batters advanced to second and third on D'Antona's ground out. They stayed there as Guiel flew out and with two out maybe Nohmi would survive. No - he served up a poor pitch to Miyamoto who drove the ball to right centre for a three base hit driving in both runners 5-1 Swallows. Finally Nohmi got the last out, Tanaka grounding out to second to end the innings and his participation in the game. Tigers fifth saw Sekimoto lead off with a hit but nothing came of this. Nohmi's replacement was Watanabe who started with a walk to Aikawa. He eventually made third but then Kawashima struck out looking. Nothing happened in Tigers sixth and Yoshinori exited after a fine piece of work. Despite the odd bit of wayward control he had kept control of the game and not allowed the Tigers to develop any momentum. Swallows seventh saw Abe who had no problems keeping the Swallows quiet.

Igarashi pitched the Tigers seventh and was likewise in control. So to the Swallows eighth and a chance. The pitcher was Fujita and he started with a Miyamoto hit. This gradually worked up to a one out bases loaded situation but the next batter was Fukuchi who failed again followed by Kawashima who hit the ball straight to Toritani and the Tigers escaped. In the Tigers eighth it was the Swallows turn to escape. Kanemoto and then Arai hit. This was followed by a Hiyama (pinch hitter) hit to centre but all this accomplished was to load the bases with two outs. Maybe Kanemoto should have tried for home but at the very least Mayumi's desire for more daring base running doesn't seem to be being realised. Hirano was the final batter and he flew out. Egusa had a few problem in the ninth but got out of the innings OK. For Tigers ninth Takada decided to use Lim (rather a waste one would have thought) but he did the job and Swallows recorded their first victory.

Swallows had outplayed Tigers but had had considerable help from the decision to use Nohmi as a starter. I keep on hoping that Nohmi will show his quality consistently but he never seems able to do so. Mench didn't do anything today either and is still looking for his first hit.