April 12th Fukuhara v Takahashi - Last ditch defense keeps the Tigers out

A game the Tigers should have won but they have stopped their losing streak against the Giants at 10. Mayumi accepted blame for the outs in the ninth but he tried something bold. We saw both teams star closers and of these Fujikawa was the more secure. A great return by Sakurai which really must put Mench under pressure and more improvement by Arai signals hope for the future. Box scores

       1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 R  H E
Tigers 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 1  0  0  0 6 13 1
Giants 3 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0  0  0  0 6 14 1

Starting lineups

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

Giants
1. Suzuki (Centre)
2. Wakiya (Second)
3. Ogasawara (Third)
4. Ramirez (Left)
5. Kamei (Right)
6. Lee (First)
7. Abe (Catcher)
8. Sakamoto (Short)
9. Hisanori Takahashi (Pitcher)

This third game from which Tigers hoped to salvage something started with a walk. Hirano bunted Sakurai to second but that was as far as he got. Fukuhara's first innings was poor though. Suzuki led off with a hit and then stole second - a rare success for the Giants. Ogasawara walked and then Ramirez drove a loose pitch to right centre driving in both runners 2-0 Giants runner on second. Kamei hit a ground ball which was messed up again by Sekimoto (he really is finding first difficult) and Giants had runners on first and third. Next up Lee who hit nicely to right and another Giant was home 3-0 Giants runners on first and second with one out. Things were looking ominous. Kamei tried to increase the pressure by stealing third but was thrown out by Kanoh. This seemed to give Fukuhara strength and he struck out Abe on a full count to end the innings. Tigers response was immediated and devastating. Arai led off with a home run 3-1 Giants. Sekimoto followed with a hit and then Kanoh hit the ball back at Takahashi who took a nasty knock on his left arm. This meant he had to be replaced and Togano took the mound with runners on first and second. His first out was Fukuhara which he duly got but then he faced Sakurai. The Tigers centre drove the ball into the left stand for a three run home run 4-3 Tigers. Hirano was next and he flew out to end the innings. Giants second was much better handled by Fukuhara who retired the side in order. Togano walked Toritani in Tigers third and the Tigers shortstop made second but that was all that happened.

Mench led off the fourth with a two base hit but the batters failed to convert him. Togano did walk Sakurai to set up runners on the corners before he was replaced by Fujita who successfully got Hirano to fly out. Kamei repaid the complement by leading off with his own two base and made third but went no further and the score remained the same. Tigers fifth saw Kanemoto hit followed one out later by a hit from Sekimoto. Fujita's days on the mound were numbered but he was allowed to get the final out. Kimura (replacement second) hit in the bottom of the fifth and made second on a bunt but went no further. So far we had a typical tight Tigers-Giants game. Fujita who had been living on borrowed time exited to be replaced by Ochi. He gave up a hit to Kanoh who then stole second but didn't get any further. At this point Mayumi decided that Fukuhara had done enough and summoned Atchison for the Giants sixth. This was not to be his best innings for the Tigers. He started with a one out hit to Kamei and then faced Lee. His second pitch was dispatched into the stands for a two run home run 5-4 Giants. He then let go another one and Abe hammered out a home run to centre 6-4 Giants. Sakamoto hit and then chanced Kanoh's arm, the Tigers catcher winning again. Finally Kimura grounded out to end the innings but the Giants were ahead again.

Hara switched pitchers again for the Tigers seventh with Yamaguchi being chosen. He gave up a hit to Arai but nothing came of this. For Tigers eighth Michael Nakamura took the mound and with two out walked Katsuragi (pinch hitter). In an all hands to the pumps mode, Mayumi replaced Katsuragi with Akahoshi (pinch runner) and he promptly stole second. Next batter Sakurai who slammed a three base hit over the centre field and Akahoshi was home 6-5 Giants runner on third. Hirano though failed to convert and the Giants maintained a narrow lead. Williams took the Giants eighth and was shaky. Back to back hits from Lee and Abe with one out put runners on first and third. Next batter was Sakamoto who obligingly hit into a double play to end that threat. Of course Kroon took the mound for the Tigers ninth and as he has been known to do so started to meltdown. Toritani led off with a hit. Kanemoto grounded out to Sakamoto who messed things up allowing Kanemoto to reach first safely and Toritani to motor to third. Next batter Arai who turned the ball neatly between third and short into left field. Toritani was home 6-6 scores tied runners on first and second. Here Tigers could have tied it up but good defence by the Giants held them out. Sekimoto hit a ground ball which allowed the Giants to get Kanemoto going for third, runners on first and second with one out. Mayumi then tried a double steal but Arai was easily thrown out, Sekimoto though was safe. Mench hit to centre but a precision throw allowed Abe to tag Sekimoto out as he slid for home end of innings. Fujikawa started with a hit to Kimura and then threw him out as he tried to steal second. The other two batters presented no problems.

Kroon also pitched the Tigers 10th and walked Sakurai. He tried to steal second but was thrown out to end the innings. Giants 10th saw Fujikawa walk Tsuruoka (pinch hitter) but he didn't try to steal anything and stayed dutifully on first while Fujikawa got Lee to strike out. The honour of pitching the Tigers 11th went to Toyoda who walked Toritani (who made second) but was otherwise untroubled. Watanabe replaced Fujikawa for the Giants half and started by walking Abe. He was pinch run for by Terauchi who was bunted to second by Sakamoto but Watanabe showed fine character and kept him there while he got the next two outs. This meant that Hara had to dig deep as he had used his main two catchers. Hoshi (Kyojin no Hoshi anyone?) took up the glove and did well. The final three Tigers batters all grounded out to Sakamoto. Watanabe pitched the Giants 12th and with two outs gave up a hit to Matsumoto (replacement right) but the final batter, pinch hitter Kajimae struck out swinging on a full count to end the game. Tied game.

This marathon had taken 4 hours 26 minues and had been fiercely fought the entire way. Hara had used 24 players (3 catchers and 8 pitchers), Mayumi 19 but the teams could not be separated. Arai and Sakurai both had significant games for the Tigers and Lee for the Giants. Tigers had shown great spirit in fighting back both times and just lacked the little bit of extra luck that would have delivered them victory. Fukuhara had done well apart from his first innings but needs to be replaced by a younger pitcher. Cheng is doing really well on the farm team and according to Yano is awesome. He should be brought up as soon as possible.