October 4th Iwata v Nakata - The Dragon Slayer

As the season draws to a close each game becomes more and more important. Tigers needed to win this game to retain their chances of third place and did so on the back of a fine pitching peformance by Iwata. The contrast between him and Andoh was marked and it was a pity he had not pitched the night before. Rather than use Fujikawa in a non-save situation Mayumi used Kubo to close off this game which ended up with the Dragons being shut out. Iwata's pitching was very good and in 87 pitches over seven innings he gave up two hits, a walk and a dead ball. Scores

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

Starting lineups

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

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

A bright and bold start was needed from Iwata but he got into trouble right away by dead balling the leadoff batter, Ibata. Araki lined out to third and then Morino hit into a double play to end the innings. Yamato walked in Tigers first but then tried to steal second and was thrown out. Toritani flew out to end the innings. Dragons second saw Blanco lead off with a walk. Wada struck out and then Tanishige hit into a double play to end the innings. All of these incidents had the effect of settling Iwata who began to pitch with more assurance. Tigers second was quiet with the batters falling in order. Dragons third was the same as Iwata settled into his stride and was in control. Tigers third didn't go quite to plan for Nakata. He has stuggled against Tigers all season and here facing Sakurai he threw a 145kph straight ball which Sakurai got a very good swing on, depositing in the left gaia for a solo home run 1-0 Tigers. Kanoh grounded out but then Iwata of all people hit to left for a three base hit. Tigers really needed to convert this but Hirano didn't fly out far enough and Yamato grounded out to Nakata to end the innings.

Dragons then found themselves with two outs very rapidly in the fourth. Morino hit - their first hit of the game but Blanco grounded out to short to end the innings. For Tigers fourth Ochiai sent Ogasawara to the mound evidently having had enough of Nakata. He gave up a one out hit to Kanemoto but nothing came of this. In Dragons fifth the batters fell in order and the same happened in the Tigers fifth. Hidenori led off the Dragons sixth with a hit to centre. Ogasawara was next and he bunted the centre to second. Ibata struck out and then Araki flew out to centre to end the innings. This was the most threatening the Dragons had been so far. Tigers sixth saw Toritani walk with two outs but Kanemoto grounded out tamely to second and that was the end of the innings.

Iwata returned for the Dragons seventh and retired the cleanup batters in order. Ogasawara retired at the end of the Tiger sixth and was replaced by Kawahara. He immediately ran into problems. Arai and Sekimoto managed back to back hits. Sakurai grounded out but moved the runners round to second and third. This brought up Kanoh who was deliberately walked to get at Iwata. Here Mayumi sprung a surprise on the Dragons and sent Hiyama (pinch hitter) to the plate. Iwata was good for another innings at least but Mayumi was chasing the victory. Hiyama didn't prove to be a successful choice and struck out. Dragons could relax slightly which is probably the reason for Kawahara throwing a straight as the second pitch to Hirano. This was punched into the left field for a hit 2-0 Tigers bases loaded. The next batter was Katsuragi (pinch hitter) who drove his first pitch once again into left field for another hit driving in two runners 4-0 Tigers, runners on first and second. Kawahara was replaced by Takahashi who got Toritani to fly out and end the innings. Tigers now had a comfortable lead. Atchison pitched Dragons eighth and ran into trouble with Tanishige leading off with a hit. Nomoto (pinch hitter) hit to left and Dragons had runners on first and second with no outs. However, Hidenori lined out to first which enabled Sekimoto to get the runner on first caught off base and there were suddenly two outs. Tatsunami then grounded out to short to end the innings. Tigers eighth was pitched by Yamai who got both Kanemoto and Arai to fly out. He then tried the same trick with Sekimoto who dispatched him over the fence for a solo home run 5-0 Tigers. Sakurai grounded out but the Tigers were comfortable. Here Mayumi decided to use Kubo to close the game out. This was strange - if he had had Abe available this would have been perfect for him but the decision worked. Kubo was in control and finished by striking out Morino looking to end the innings. Tigers victory.

The last game of the season at Koshien ended with a well worked victory. Tigers had always been in control and the Dragons had never really established themselves or mounted any decent challenge. Carp lost to the BayStars which puts them three games back on the Tigers and really finishes their chance of third place. Swallows lost to the Giants and are now back in fourth, one game behind. Tigers take on the Carp for a final game before playing two more games at Jingu against the Swallows. This is where third place will be decided.

[Edited by: Christopher on Oct 4, 2009 9:32 PM]