April 30th Kubo v Mastny - Tigers snatch victory

Kubo is still without his first win in the Central League but once again pitched very well and went almost seven innings. Perhaps his weakest pitch is his straightball and he needs to add more velocity to make it truely effective. Howewver, this time he was paired with Kanoh and the difference was very noticeable. Lazy batting proved to be a problem though Mastny did pitch effectively (but had control issues) and it was only in the ninth that the Tigers batters woke up and engineered a meltdown from Ishii. Hirano started and fully justified his place making a vital contribution to the victory. Box scores

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

Starting lineups

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

Miura was replaced by Kajitani for the first at bat.

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

Paired with Kanoh, Kubo would be much more effective and responded well to the catcher's calling. However, Ishikawa - BayStars leadoff - owned Kubo and took three hits off him. His first was a lead off two base. Kajitani bunted him to third and then Kubo walked Uchikawa to set up runners on first and third with one out. Murata though hit into a double play and the innings was fortuitously scoreless. Mastny gave up a two out hit to Toritani but nothing came of this and the first innings was over. Kubo's second was more assured and he retiired the BayStars batters in order. Likewise Tigers second as Mastny got the three outs easily. BayStars third brought Ishikawa to bat again with two outs. He had his second hit of the night as Kubo didn't hold the ball effectively. Ishikawa then stole second but Kajitani struck out on a full count to end the innings. Tigers third was quiet as Mastny was once again in control.

Kubo followed the same pattern in the fourth as he had in the third, two outs then a problem. This time he dead balled Johnson and followed it up with a hit to Yoshimura., runners on first and second. Kinjoh hit to Kubo who was up to the challenge and the final out was recorded. Mastny struggled in the Tigers fourth as his control problems became apparent. Sekimoto led off with a two base hit. He then dead balled Toritani to set up runners on first and second with no outs. Not a good situation to be in but Mastny responded well and got Kanemoto and Arai. Katsuragi grounded out to first but Johnson fluffed the chance and the bases were loaded. The next batter was Fujimoto - perhaps not the batter you want in a situation like this and he grounded out to first. This time Johnson made no mistake and the innings was over. BayStars fifth followed the same two out hit pattern as the third and fourth. Once again it was Ishikawa who hit and once again he stole second. However, with Kajitani next one didn't need to worry too much. However, Kajitani got enough bat on a straightball and it flew off to right just staying in for a two run home run and Kajitani's first career home run. Very streaky but it all counts 2-0 BayStars. Kubo though didn't let that affect him and got Uchikawa to ground out to prevent any chance of a rally starting. Tigers fifth saw Mastny's second dead ball of the night, this time of Hirano but once again the Tigers batters failed to take advantage of this. The whole sixth was quiet as both pitchers retired the batters in order.

BayStars seventh started with a bunt hit from Kinjoh which took Kubo by surprise and allowed Kinjoh to make second on an error. Hosoyamada bunted him to third which set up the chance of a sacrifice fly but Ohya had decided that he wanted Mastny to pitch the Tigers seventh and so he faced Kubo. He was struck out looking and then Mayumi decided to switch to Egusa for the final out. Kubo had thrown 109 pitches with six hits and two walks. He had given up two runs but they had an element of luck attached to them - all in all a nice pitching performance and fully justifying pairing with Kanoh. So Egusa has a runner on third with two outs. He responded by getting Ishikawa to ground out and the innings was over. Mastny returned for Tigers seventh and started by dead balling Katsuragi (his third of the evening). Fujimoto then hit but Kanoh grounded out. Still with runners on first and second and one out Ohya decided enough was enough and replaced Mastny with Yamaguchi. Yamaguchi got another out and then dead balled Hirano to load the bases. BayStars really had a taste for the dead ball that night. Sekimoto though grounded out and the innings was scoreless. In a sign that he regarded the game as winnable, Mayumi used Williams for the BayStars eighth. Williams struck out Kajitani and then gave up a hit to Uchikawa. Murata struck out then Uchikawa tried to steal second but was thrown out to end the innings. Tigers eighth was pitched by Takasaki who gave up a leadoff hit to Toritani. He went nowhere as the next three batters all fell in order. Atchison pitched the BayStars ninth and with one out gave up a hit to Yoshimura. He attempted to steal second and was successful but Kinjoh struck out and Hosoyamada grounded out to end the innings. So the situation, BayStars leading by 2 runs and Tigers bottom of the order coming up. The BayStars closer was Ishii who had been successful the night before and would start well. Sakurai (pinch hitter) flew out in foul ground and then Kanoh grounded out on a full count which left the one out. Atchison was pinch hit for by Imaoka - he hit to short and was safe on first (Imaoka was pinch run for by Yamato). Hirano was next and he hammered the ball into the sweet spot for batters at Koshien, roughly midway between right and centre and a guaranteed three base hit for speedy players. Yamato of course was home and Hirano who is speedy was safe on third 2-1 BayStars. Sekimoto followed and with Ishii faltering hit to second. Sekimoto beat the throw and Hirano was home 2-2 scores tied and suddenly an unlikely victory looked possible. With the bit between their teeth Tigers looked in control and maybe Ohya should have pulled Ishii here. Instead the pitcher faced Toritani who hit to right - runners on first and third with Kanemoto next. Kanemoto's third pitch was pulled past second for a sayonara hit and a Tigers victory 3-2.

A very nice come from behind victory taking advantage of the sudden meltdown of Ishii. Atchison picked up the win but Tigers had perhaps made it difficult for themselves. They probably could have batted better but they had shown application and hadn't given up. Hirano's contribution had been vital - making sure he reached third had upped the pressure. Kubo teamed with Kanoh had looked very good and his first victory will come. In fact once he fully adjusts he will be a very good addition to the Tigers rotation. Kanemoto know has 30 RBIs for the season and is setting a terrific pace. Mayday is a holiday and then on May 2nd Tigers face the Giants at Koshien.