May 25th Kubo v Shimizu - Kubo's first win

It took a long time coming but Kubo was finally able to pick up his first win. The game was tighter than Tigers fans would have liked but a win is a win and after the run of losses all the more welcome. Mayumi shuffled his lineup and this worked quite well with Hirano doing well as leadoff batter. Because of swine flu fears no jettos were permitted at Koshien and so the spectacle of the seventh was missing. Still, the retro 1985 uniforms looked very nice. Other teams should follow the Tigers example and also introduce different uniforms on a consistent basis. Box scores

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

Starting lineups

Marines
1. Nishioka (Short)
2. Fukuura (First)
3. Saburo (Centre)
4. Iguchi (Second)
5. Ohmatsu (Right)
6.Satozaki (Catcher)
7. Benny (Left)
8. Imae (Third)
9. Shimizu (Pitcher)

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

Kubo against his old team - what would happen? Actually an ordinary performance not one of his better ones but a great result. With one out he walked Fukuura and then managed to dead ball Iguchi - runners on first and second. Ohmatsu grounded out and the innings ended scoreless. In Tigers first, Hirano led off with a hit but then was caught up in a Sekimoto double play. Toritani did nothing and the first was over. Marines second was just as shakey for Kubo. He started by walking Satozaki. One out later he produced another dead ball, this time of Imae. The runners made second on third on Shimizu's ground out but then Nishioka grounded out to end the innings. Tigers second was quiet with the batters falling in order. This was also the case with Marines third. Tigers third saw Kanoh hit but he failed to advance beyond first and the innings petered out. So far Marines had got runners round to third but Tigers hadn't managed to get beyond first.

As Kubo grew in confidence his pitching got better. Marines fourth Satozaki hit but a Benny double play extinguished the chance to score. In Tigers fourth Toritani engineered a one out two base but nothing came of it. Marines fifth was quiet with the batters falling in order. Lin drew a lead off walk in Tigers fifth but Shimizu kept things tight and he stayed on first. Things began to happen in the Marines sixth - with one out Saburo hit. Iguchi walked setting up runners on first and second and then Ohmatsu hit to right. Saburo charged home 1-0 Marines, runners on first and third with one out. Next batter, Satozaki who hit a sacrifice fly to centre 2-0 Marines runner on first. The final batter was Benny who struck out swinging. Tigers response was good as Shimizu went to pieces. Hirano led off with a hit. This was followed by a Sekimoto hit and Toritani walk, bases loaded no outs. Kanemoto hit a sacrifice fly to centre 2-1 Marines runners on first and second. Arai was next and hit his sixth home run of the season driving in three runs 4-2 Tigers. Lin grounded out but Katsuragi and Kanoh hit to set up runners on first and second. At this point Valentine decided that Shimizu's evening was over and replaced him with Kawasaki. He faced Fujimoto (pinch hitter) hardly someone you want with runners on at the moment and the Tigers batter flew out to end the innings but with a nice lead for the Tigers.

The question was would Tigers be able to preserve Kubo's victory this time. Atchison took the Marines seventh and with one out gave up a solo home run to Lambin (replacement left) 4-3 Tigers and it looked like they could blow it. Atchison though retired the next two batters and a slender lead remained. In Tigers seventh, Hirano led off with a hit and made second on Sekimoto's bunt. Toritani walked but Kanemoto grounded into a double play and that chance wasn't exploited. Williams pitched the Marines eighth and was his usual shakey self. With one out he gave up a hit to Iguchi and walked Satozaki to set up runners on first and second with one out to get. Hori (pinch hitter) hit to right but a laser like throw from Katsuragi allowed Kanoh to tag out Iguchi and end the innings. Itoh pitched the Tigers eighth and gave up a hit to Hiyama (pinch hitter) but nothing came of this. For Marines ninth Mayumi chose Fujikawa who was very tense and didn't pitch too well. He got the first two outs but then ran into trouble trying to get the final out. He walked Nishioka which was surprising as the Marines short had had a quiet night with the bat all evening. Fukuura hit to centre and the speedy Nishioka made third with Fukuura on first. The latter was pinch run for by Hayasaka and he stole second - runners on second and third. Saburo walked to load the bases which left Fujikawa with Iguchi to get out if he wanted to save the game. With the count full, Iguchi swung and put the ball nicely into Katsuragi's glove for the final out. Tigers victory.

A nice victory for the Tigers. Kubo picked up his first win and shared a well earned hero interview with Arai. This had been a tight hard fought game and the kind of game the Tigers needed to win. Interestingly it had been achieved with a very Okada looking side (Katsuragi at first, Sekimoto at second). Fujikawa picked up his third save and Arai continued his improvement driving in more vital runs.