August 26th Iwata v Walrond - Congratulations Craig Brazell

In between hitting his first and second home run Craig Brazell was informed of the birth of his son. What a way to celebrate and congratulations to him. He was the 21st person in NPB to hit two home runs in an innings and the first Tigers since Kakefu, 27 years before. Walrond started well but fell apart after Brazell's first home run and his replacement couldn't cope with the Tigers bats. Iwata wasn't too good but the BayStars once again lacked the batters to drive in the runners and really once the Tigers had scored the game was over as a contest. This was their biggest innings of the season and was built on a concerted team effort. Mayumi though showed more stupidity - he had Iwata pitch seven innings which was reasonable but then asked for an eighth from him. With a 9-2 lead this was unnecessary and Iwata ended up throwing 140 pitches. Please stop this stupidity of pitching the pitchers too long. It doesn't benefit anyone and is totally pointless. Preserve the pitchers arms as much as possible and they will repay you in later seasons. Scores.

          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Tigers    0 0 0 0 9 0 0 0 0 9 11 1
BayStars  0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 3 10 0

Starting lineups

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

BayStars
1. Ohnishi (Centre)
2. Fujita (Short)
3. Uchikawa (Left)
4. Johnson (Third)
5. Saeki (First)
6. Yoshimura (Right)
7. Nishi (Second)
8. Takeyama (Catcher)
9. Walrond (Pitcher)

Neither pitcher would start particularly well and with Iwata you could say he was indifferent the whole evening. He did show some wonderful stuff but mixed in with a lot of dross and really the BayStars could have had more runs against him. Walrond started with a one out hit to Akahoshi who then stole second. By this time he had gotten to Kanemoto who walked but Arai flew out to end the innings. Iwata started the BayStars first by giving up a hit to Ohnishi - a two base hit at that. Fujita bunted him to third and things looked good for the first run. However, Uchikawa grounded out to Arai and then Johnson snatched at a pitch and flew out to Toritani and the BayStars had wasted their first chance. Walrond then settled down and pitched very well. In Tigers second he retired the batters in order. In the bottom Iwata started with a hit to Saeki. However, Yoshimura who would have a terrible night lined out to Brazell which caught Saeki off base - two outs. Nishi then struck out to end the innings. Tigers third was quiet and so was BayStars third and so far no team had found a way to open up the game.

Once again, in Tigers fourth Walrond pitched well finishing by striking out Arai looking. It was looking difficult for the Tigers. It looked more difficult for then in BayStars fourth. Iwata wasn't pitching well and with Fujita back in the dugout gave up a hit to Uchikawa. Johnson then walked to set up runners on first and second and Saeki hit to right driving in the runner 1-0 BayStars, runners on first and third. Iwata struck out Yoshimura with a low fork showing what he could do and then Nishi grounded out to end the innings. BayStars hadn't really exploited the situation. Brazell led off Tigers fifth and after a ball received a curve ball which he hit hard and straight over the fence for a solo home run 1-1 scores tied and BayStars lead had gone. Next batter was Sakurai who dug a low pitch out and put it over the infield for a hit. Then Kanoh punched one past Walrond for another hit, runners on first and second. Iwata bunted to third, a high bouncing bunt and Johnson's throw to first was too high drawing Saeki off base. Iwata was safe, bases loaded no outs. Mayumi sent Takahashi to the plate in place of Hirano - he wanted the runs. Takahashi hit a sacrifice fly to right, Sakurai making home easily 2-1 Tigers, runners on first and third. Akahoshi then hit nicely to left 3-1 Tigers runners on first and third. Toritani hit the ball over second into centre field for another run 4-1 Tigers, runners on first and second. This brought up Kanemoto who battled Walrond hard but just couldn't hit so he took the walk - bases loaded again with one out. At this point Tashiro replaced Walrond who didn't look like he could get out of the innings and whose pitching had completely gone to pieces. The new pitcher was Takasaki who would prove unequal to the challenge. He battled Arai who hit just past the glove of the diving Fujita for another two runs 6-1 Tigers. This brought up Brazell who had just received the news of his son's birth. His first pitch was a 128 kph slider and this was hammered into the BayStars gaia for a three run home run 9-1 Tigers. Sakurai flew out to Yoshimura and then Kanoh grounded out to short and BayStars nightmare innings was finally over. Of course the game was over as a contest which was just as well given that Iwata wasn't on top form. He showed this immediately in BayStars fifth with a leadoff hit to Takeyama. With two out Fujita hit to Arai who fielded and threw to Fujimoto (replacement second) standing on second base. He dropped the ball and BayStars had runners on first and second. Uchikawa then flew out to end the innings. Kentaro Kuwahara took the mound for Tigers sixth and retired the batters in order, the Tigers not really needing to try. BayStars then wasted a big chance in their sixth. Johnson put a leadoff two base hit over Brazell. Saeki walked and things looked dangerous. Yoshimura flew out to right which took Johnson to third and it seemed likely that the BayStars would score. Kanoh took a hand here and with Nishi on two strikes told Iwata exactly where to put the ball. Iwata obliged and Nishi struck out swinging afterwards shaking his head in disbelief. A brilliant bit of calling by Kanoh. This gave Iwata a boost in confidence and he struck out Takeyama to end the innings and the threat.

Kentaro Kuwahara continued for the Tigers seventh and gave up a hit to Toritani. This one bounced and even though Ohnishi took the ball and threw he was too late and Toritani was safe. The next three batters did nothing, Brazell flying out in foul ground to end the innings. Iwata returned for the BayStars seventh and this should have been his last innings - not because of the runs he gave up but because he shouldn't be overpitched. He faced Yoshiyuki Kuwahara (pinch hitter) who with two strikes turned a curve into the left stand for his first career home run 9-2 Tigers. Ohnishi struck out but then Fujita hit to right. Uchikawa hit to left and Arai took but messed up and then threw to late to Katsuragi (replacement first) and BayStars had runners on first and second. This was ruled a hit but really was an error by Arai. Johnson though hit into a double play to end the innings. For Tigers eighth we saw the veteran Kudoh who started with a hit to Sakurai. He then retired the next three batters to keep the Tigers from increasing the score. Iwata then returned for the BayStars eighth and actually had no trouble retiring the batters in order but really this was a pointless gesture on the part of a clueless kantoku. Kudoh then pitched the Tigers ninth and showed some very nice pitching striking out Toritani looking with a devastating inside ball and then striking out Kanemoto swinging in the traditional way with a fastball straight down the middle. Even though he isn't a Tigers player it is nice to see the old veteran at his best. Mayumi finally saw sense and for BayStars ninth pitched Nishimura. He started by striking out Takeyama and then Yamasaki (replacement third) hit towards second. Toritani took it but his throw drew Katsuragi off base and despite an attempted tag, Yamasaki was safe. Shimozono hit to left for a two base along the line and BayStars had runners on second and third. This though was all too little too late. Fujita hit his first pitch to Arai who threw to first for the out but Yamasaki was home 9-3 Tigers, runner on second. Then Nishimura showed nice coolness to strike out Uchikawa and end the innings. Tigers victory.

A very nice victory based on one innings where Tigers had overwhelmed the BayStars. Brazell took the hero interview and the Tigers fans said congratulations in English. BayStars really do have to think about what they need to do - they wasted too many chances. Tigers did very well and took full advantage of some loose pitching. Nice batting by Arai and especially Brazell with good backup from the rest of the side. Kanemoto though gave more evidence of his decline and something does need to be done about the problem. The gap between Tigers and Swallows is now 6.5 games but Tigers do need to keep the pressure up if they are going to snatch an unlikely third place.