September 25th Nohmi v Yoshimi - Nohmi hits!

Sakai-owner has indicated that he wants Tigers to win 10 of their 11 remaining games (a tall order if ever there was one). Still Tigers started brightly, winning this game on some fine pitching and batting by Nohmi. All thoughts of laziness were banished and he was focused and pitched nicely over his 7 innings. The match would be close until the fourth innings when Tigers managed to prise Yoshimi open. Carp lost to the Giants putting them 2.5 games behind Tigers but Swallows won to remain 0.5 behind. Dragons were not happy about being beaten - Ochiai left the dugout at the end of the game in a very bad frame of mind and Blanco remained sitting for quite a while as if unable to except the result but they had been outplayed. Scores.

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

Starting lineups

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

Dragons
1. Araki (Second)
2. Ibata (Short)
3. Morino (Third)
4. Blanco (First)
5. Wada (Left)
6. Hirata (Right)
7. Hidenori (Centre)
8. Tanishige (Catcher)
9. Yoshimi (Pitcher)

The first innings was quiet, both pitchers were in control and both retired the batters in order. In fact it looked as if we were in for a pitching duel. The same continued through the second with the batters once again falling nicely to some fine pitching. In Tigers third Sakurai led off the innings with a hit but stayed on first as the other three batters failed to convert him. Nohmi exhibited fine control in Dragons third and the batters couldn't make anything of their at bats. No Dragons batter had reached first.

Yoshimi though faltered in Tigers fourth - Hirano led off with a two base hit. Two outs later, Arai hit driving him in 1-0 Tigers but Arai tried to go too far and was out. Dragons tried to respond in their fourth with back to back hits from Araki and Ibata. This set up runners on first and third but then Morino flew out to short. Blanco then hit into a double play to end the innings. Tigers fifth started with a hit by Brazell, Yoshimi then dead balled Sakurai (his control was non too good). Kanoh bunted the runners to second and third which brought up Nohmi. He swung at his first pitch and got a good contact hitting nicely to right, 2-0 Tigers runners on first and third. Nohmi had swung and been lucky and he said so after the game in his hero interview. Asai followed and he hit to left driving in another run 3-0 Tigers, runners on first and second. Hirano hit to short ad Araki failed to hold it but this was judged a hit not an error though it looked very like an error, bases loaded with only one out. Toritani lined out to first but even though Hirano was well off base he was able to evade the lumbering Blanco and make base safely to avoid the double play. Finally Kanemoto flew out to right to end the innings. Nohmi walked Hirata in Dragons fifth but then Hidenori hit into a double play to end the innings. Arai led off Tigers sixth with a hit and then we saw the height of stupidity - Mayumi asked Sekimoto to bunt. Asking your number six batter to bunt? The bunt was successful but the whole intellectual bankruptcy of the approach takes your breath away. Sakurai flew out to centre and it began to look like the opportunity was wasted. However, Yoshimi decided to walk Kanoh to get at Nohmi. This didn't prove to be such a good idea as Nohmi once again hit to right to drive in the runner 4-0 Tigers. This one he described as a fluke which one has to agree with, still Tigers lead was comfortable. Asai then grounded out to end that innings. Tanishige led off Dragons sixth with a hit but stayed on first as Nohmi retired the next three batters.

Tigers seventh was pitched by Payano who is quite successful against them. This innings was no exception and he retired the batters in order. Nohmi returned for Dragons seventh and ran into trouble. He got the first out but then walked Blanco. Wada hit to set up runners on first and third which brought up Inoue. Here the Dragons had their own piece of luck - Inoue (pinch hitter) took a swing and the ball took off down the first base line evading Sekimoto's dive on the way. It stayed in long enough but then veered off into the corner to bring home the runners 4-2 Tigers, runner on second. Tatsunami (pinch hitter) was next and he grounded out to end the innings. Tigers eighth was pitched by Suzuki and even though Sekimoto walked nothing came of this. Atchison pitched the Dragons eighth and was effective though there was an incident involving Yamato (Tigers replacement second). Araki hit into the infield and with first standing in Atchison picked up and threw to Yamato. He stepped on the base but then crossed and collided with Araki. It looked very much like he took the Dragons player out deliberately. If this is so one hopes the Tigers management speak to him about it. I believe he could have avoided the collision but didn't. This sort of attitude has no place in the game as it was unnecessary - it was an easy out. Ibata then struck out looking to a superb pitch from Atchison. Suzuki returned for Tigers ninth and gave up a two base hit to Asai who pulled a leg muscle as he rounded first and had to be replaced by Shoda. Suzuki was replaced by Masato Kobayashi who faced Hirano. He bunted but the pick up wasn't good and Hirano beat out the throw, runners on first and third. Hirano then advanced to second on a pass ball and things looked dangerous for the Dragons. Toritani walked which loaded the bases and had Kobayashi facing Kanemoto. He did well engineering an oshidashi 5-2 Tigers, bases loaded. At this point Ochiai brought on another pitcher, Kawahara. Arai hit his first pitch to third who threw to home to get the runner but didn't get Arai and the bases were still loaded. Sekimoto though grounded out to short to end the innings. After all the excitement of the Tigers ninth, the Dragons ninth was a bit of an anti-climax. Fujikawa pitched it and even though he faced the Dragons clean up it was a piece of cake for him - no more Tyronne Woods to worry about. The batters fell 1-2-3 and the innings was over. Tigers victory.

A very nice victory based on fine work by Nohmi. He had done well and had thrown only 95 pitches in his seven innings. Not so many strike outs this game but a concentrated focused performance which had given Tigers the space they needed to win. Tigers batting had hit when needed and worked hard to engineer the win. Atchison and Fujikawa had both been excellent and Fujikawa had picked up his 24th save. All in all very good work and a very valuable win which kept the Tigers in third place.