June 21st Nohmi v Fujiwara - Farewell Interleague for another year

The Inter-league matches ended with a victory at Koshien. Tigers posted a 9-13 record with 2 ties. They managed to win only one series, against Orix 3-1. They did draw 2-2 with Rakuten but were beaten by Hawks 2-1 (1 tie), Lions 3-1, Marines 3-1 and Fighters 2-1 (1 tie) and they finished eighth out of the 12 teams. Toritani remembered how to use his bat this game driving in a run and Nohmi somehow managed to avoid giving up too many runs to walk away with the victory. Box scores

               1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Golden Eagles  0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2  6 0
Tigers         0 1 2 0 1 0 0 0 X 4 11 2

Starting lineups

Golden Eagles
1. Naoto Watanabe (Short)
2. Masato Nakamura (Left)
3. Nakashima (Right)
4. Kusano (Second)
5. Yamasaki (First)
6. Johbu (Third)
7. Teppei (Centre)
8. Shima (Catcher)
9. Fujiwara (Pitcher)

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

Golden Eagles sent their No.1 draft pick from 2008, Fujiwara to the mound and he didn't do too well. He was up against Nohmi who managed to hold on to his lead for a change but still doesn't look convincing. However, he started well - Golden Eagles batters went down 1-2-3 in the first innings. Fujiwara walked Arai but Kanemoto struck out to end the innings. Ever since his marvellous April he's been very quiet and his production is very much down. Golden Eagles second saw the first of Kusano's three hits but even with no outs he stayed on first and nothing resulted. Tigers second saw the batters start to go after Fujiwara. With one out Sakurai slammed an enormous hit which just fell short of the fence by a few centimetres but was enough for a three base. The next batter Toritani hit to right and it was 1-0 Tigers, runner on first. Kanoh then bunted Toritani to second which is one of the most bizarre decisions I have ever seen. Really, they must have been hoping for some miracle with the pitcher as the final out. It would have been surprising if it had worked and of course it didn't, Nohmi tried but struck out to end the innings. Golden Eagles third started with a hit from Shima. Fujiwara tried to bunt him but was out messing up the three bunts. Watanabe then hit into a double play which ended the innings nicely.

Tigers fourth saw more difficulties for Fujiwara. With one out Sekimoto hit a two base. Arai walked again but Kanemoto flew out for the second out. This brought up Brazell who hit to centre driving home Sekimoto 2-0 Tigers, runners on first and third. Sakurai then hit to right and it was 3-0 Tigers, runners on first and third. Toritani flew out and the innings was over. Golden Eagles tried to mount a fightback in their fourth. Kusano hit to right - a two base. Yamasaki walked but then Johbu grounded out to first to end the innings. In Tigers fourth Kanoh led off with a hit but was out during a Nohmi double play. Akahoshi then flew out to end the innings. With Golden Eagles fifth things were about to get a bit tighter. The first out came easily enough - a ground out to Toritani and then the second also a ground out to Toritani. Except that he messed this one up and Golden Eagles had a runner on. Nomura sent in a pinch hitter Nakatani who had been with Tigers in 2005 before being let go and picked up by Golden Eagles in 2006. Amazingly, he hit Nohmi over the fence for his first career home run 3-2 Tigers. The next two batters fell easily but that was embarrassing. For their fifth Tigers faced Childers. He was not an improvement on Fujiwara and didn't last long. He started with a lead off hit to Sekimoto and then a hit to Arai. This was enough and he was rapidly replaced by Kawai who promptly gave up a hit to Kanemoto to load the bases with no outs. Brazell though hit into a double play but this did bring Sekimoto home 4-2 Tigers runner on third. Koyama replaced Kawai and got the final out, Sakurai swinging. For the Golden Eagles sixth, Mayumi decided that Nohmi should not return. He hadn't done badly but he hadn't really done well and that home run was a bit much. Undoubtedly the right decision here Atchison took the mound. He was a little shakey giving up a hit to Kusano and then walking Yamasaki but managed to induce a double play from Johbu to get out of the innings. Tigers sixth was quiet as the batters fell in order.

Atchison returned for the Golden Eagles seventh and gave up a hit to Teppei. He was thrown out trying to steal second and the other two batters managed to fly out in foul ground. Tigers seventh saw another Golden Eagles pitching change, Aoyama. He was lucky as he wasn't particularly good either. Akahoshi hit and then tried to steal second. He was thrown out - the first time this season he has failed to steal second (but he has 20 steals out of 22 so far). Sekimoto hit again but Arai hit into a double play to end the innings. For the Golden Eagles eighth Williams was the pitcher of choice. Maybe he is beginning to settle down now as this was another strong performance from him - the batters tumbled in order. Matsuzaki pitched Tigers eighth and indulged in one or two wild pitches against Kanemoto but was otherwise secure and retired the batters in order. For the Golden Eagles ninth we saw Fujikawa and he was much improved. He started by walking Kusano but then retired the next three batters for the victory.

This was a nice match to win but the level of Tigers performance is still disturbing. There are still too many errors being committed in the field and the batting is not good enough. Brazell is doing very well but he alone cannot carry the side. The other batters need to follow his example and start driving in runs, particularly Kanemoto who is not hitting enough. Fujikawa picked up his seventh save and looked more assured and this is a hopeful sign for the future but he needs to be in situations where he can save and there have been too few of these recently.