April 29th Andoh v Walrond - Andoh has a little turn

This time BayStars relief pitchng and batting both came through nicely. Runners were driven in and Tigers batters kept off balance which was just as well as Walrond was mediocre. However, Andoh was worse and one couldn't really predict his third innings meltdown. Mayumi's handling of the batting was questionable - once again Fujimoto was preferred to Hirano and Imaoka made an appearance at first. Neither was effective and Mayumi does need to go with the on form batter. With someone as versatile as Hirano he should get as much playing time as possible. Box scores

          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
BayStars  0 0 6 0 0 0 1 0 0 7 11 0
Tigers    0 1 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 4  8 0

Starting lineups

BayStars
1. Ishikawa (Short)
2. Kajitani (Second)
3. Uchikawa (Left)
4. Murata (Third)
5. Johnson (First)
6. Yoshimura (Right)
7. Kinjoh (Centre)
8. Hosoyamada (Catcher)
9. Walrond (Pitcher)

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

Andoh would start the game nicely. Admittedly he did give up a hit to Uchikawa in the BayStars first but a strike out of Murata followed to end the innings and this looked promising for the night ahead. Walrond was untroubled in the Tigers first, retiring the batters in order. BayStars second saw Johnson lead off with a hit but then Yoshimura obligingly hit into a double play and then Kinjoh struck out and everything looked good. Walrond faced Arai with one out and the Tigers third slammed a solo home run to right 1-0 Tigers. The rest of the innings was quiet but the Tigers were on the way. It all went wrong in the third innings. The first two batters Hosoyamada and Walrond both grounded out but the third Ishikawa hit. Still nothing to worry about but then Andoh suddenly lost his ability to place the ball. Kajitani was next and he hit his first pinch for a two base hit to centre, runners on second and third. Still only one out to get - no worries? Andoh then walked Uchikawa to load the bases with Murata next. He hammered his first pitch into the gap between centre and left for a two base hit bringing in two runners 2-1 BayStars, runners on second and third. Then Andoh walked Johnson to load the bases again and here Mayumi should have replaced Andoh. He didn't and sometimes the Tigers coach is like a deer mesmerised by a truck's headlights. He can't take the decision quickly enough. Yoshimura was next and he hit nicely to right centre for a base clearing triple hit 5-1 BayStars runner on third. Once again Andoh could have come out here but Mayumi left him in and Andoh let loose a pass ball. Yoshimura home 6-1 BayStars. Finally Kinjoh grounded out to end the innings but a devastating innings for the BayStars. They had converted every run scoring opportunity efficiently and with a minimum of fuss. Andoh's control had deserted him and he should have come out earlier. Tigers responded immediately, Kanoh hit but Imaoka (pinch hitter) and replacement first struck out. However, Kanoh stole second and made third on Fujimoto's ground out. Then Sekimoto hit, driving him in 6-2 BayStars, runner on first. However, the final batter, Toritani flew out and the BayStars maintained a comfortable lead.

Mayumi chose Abe for the BayStars fourth and the pitcher repaid the faith shown. With two out he did give up a hit to Ishikawa but there was no repeat of the last innings and Kajitani flew out. Tigers fourth saw Kanemoto walk and Sakurai hit to set up runners on first and second but nothing came from this. There then followed a succession of double plays, firstly the BayStars fifth, once again Abe pitching. Uchikawa hit and one out later Johnson hit into the double play. In Tigers fifth Walrond walked Abe and then was judged to have balked and Abe was on second. Sekimoto hit driving Abe in 6-3 BayStars, runner on first. Toritani hit to put runners on first and second and then Kanemoto hit beating the throw to first to drive in another run 6-4 BayStars. The next batter was Arai who hit into a double play to end the innings. It would have been better if he had gone for a sacrifice fly as Tigers were building a nice momentum then. Abe returned for the BayStars sixth and ran into trouble. Back to back hits from Yoshimura (who also stole second) and Kinjoh set up runners on first and third. Abe was replaced by Atchison who struck out Hosoyamada and then got Saeki (pinch hitter) to hit into - yes, a double play to end the innings. Sanada replaced Walrond, Ohya deciding that another innings of his starter would probably see the lead disappear. He walked Sakurai with one out and then got Kanoh to hit into a double play to end the innings.

Atchison continued pitching in the BayStars seventh and struck out two of the three batters looking to ensure that the BayStars didn't increase their lead (no double play this time). Tigers seventh was pitched by Yamaguchi who also struck out two of the batters he faced. For BayStars eighth Mayumi went with Watanabe who hasn't looked at all on top of his game. This would be demonstrated in dramatic fashion by Murata who led off the innings with a solo home run 7-4 BayStars. This wasn't the icing on the cake but the killer blow and after the hit the BayStars victory was assured. The next three batters failed to do anything and the innings ended. In the bottom Kanemoto engineered a one out hit but then Arai revisited the double play ending the innings. BayStars ninth saw Tsutsui take the mound. He retired the BayStars batters in order and for the Tigers eighth Ishii was the pitcher. He retired the batters in order to end the match. BayStars victory.

A good well engineered victory for the BayStars considering their starter wasn't good. Nice relief pitching and economical batting had seen them take their chance and use it well. Tigers couldn't have expected this to happen but Mayumi's handling of the match was suspect. Why he brought Imaoka on and then used the lead off batter as a pinch hitter or pitcher is difficult to understand. If he did want Imaoka on the field then the better course of action would have been to double switch. Once again he ignored his on form players for the dubious left/right concern and admitted as much. Possibly he could have removed Andoh earlier but here he was slow to react. Kanemoto has now reached 29 RBIs this month a truely phenomenal amount.