March 31st Kubo v Saitoh - A long night for the Carp

Firstly, Tigers foreign pitcher negotiations. These have narrowed down with Jason Standridge being slightly in the lead at the moment. For those that remember him, he played a couple of seasons with Softbank.
At the moment, though, he isn't so necessary. Tigers had another good night and once again a Carp pitcher struggled, this time Saitoh. The weather didn't help, it rained the entire match and it looked as if Mayumi tried to get the match called (without success). Kubo didn't pitch that well but had some very good stuff. Scores

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

Starting lineups

Tigers
1. Murton (Centre)
2. Sekimoto (Second)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Arai (Third)
6. Johjima (Catcher)
7. Brazell (First)
8. Sakurai (Right)
9. Kubo (Catcher)

Carp
1. Higashide (Second)
2. Soyogi (Short)
3. Amaya (Centre)
4. Kurihara (Third)
5. Fiorentino (Left)
6. Huber (First)
7. Hirose (Right)
8. Ishihara (Catcher)
9. Saitoh (Pitcher)

Murton led off with a hit. Sekimoto, starting in place of Hirano bunted him to second. A Toritani ground out took him to third which brought up Kanemoto. He stroked a pitch nicely along the left baseline where it hit the padding about 50 cm below the home run line. Murton was home and Tigers were in the lead 1-0, runner on second. Arai tried to hit round third but was out and the innings was over. Tigers should have held this lead but Kubo's first innings was a bit wayward. Higashide led off with a two base hit -oops! He was bunted to third by Soyogi and then Amaya walked. Next batter was Kurihara who hammered a loose pitch into the gap between left and centre bringing home the runners 2-1 Carp, runner on second and only one out. Fiorentino walked but then Huber hit into a fortunate double play and the innings was over but the lead was with the Carp. Saitoh hadn't pitched well in the first and followed this trend in the second but Tigers wasted the opportunity. With Johjima out, Brazell hit to right. Sakurai took a dead ball on his foot but Kubo grounded out. Then Murton also grounded out to end the innings. Carp's second was quiet as Kubo pitched much more confidently and accurately. With Toritani walked and one out Saitoh faced Kanemoto who was looking more confident. He pulled a low slider round to right where it somewhat fortuiously cleared the fence for a two run home run 3-2 Tigers. Arai was next and he hit. Brazell hit and Sakurai walked to load the bases. Nothing to worry about for the Carp - after all its Kubo next. It didn't turn out that way. Kubo fought hard and then got a nice soft pitch which he hit perfectly over the infield into the space between left and centre for a bases clearing double 6-2 Tigers, runner on second. Carp were stunned but managed to get Murton to ground out. Could Kubo hold the lead he had created? Apart from walking Amaya he did very well and Carp failed to respond.

Tigers fourth was quiet and was about the only bright spot of the evening for Saitoh. Fiorentino led off Carp's fourth punishing a loose pitch from Kubo by depositing it in the right stand 6-3 Tigers. Kubo, though kept his cool and retired the next three batters to end the innings. Arai led off Tigers fifth with another hit. Johjima was next and gave his first pitch a mighty wack straight down the middle. For most of its journey it looked like a home run but just died at the end and fell into the glove of Amaya who ran back nicely to take it. Brazell hit again and once again Tigers had two runners on. This time Sakurai hit into a double play and the innings was over. This was Saitoh's final innings and he was pinch hit for by Suenaga who managed a hit. However, the next batter Higashide hit the ball straight into Kubo's glove and the double play was a formality. The final batter was Soyogi who grounded out to end the innings. For Tigers sixth the Carp chose Kishimoto who walked Sekimoto (he was replaced by Hirano) and then gave up a hit to Toritani. Once again Tigers failed to capitalize and Kanemoto flew out to end the innings. However, one can't really blame him as he had already made a huge contribution to the victory. Kubo pitched the Carp's sixth and here Amaya led off with a lucky hit. The ball bounced along the baseline, clearing first and just managing to stay in before veering off into foul ground. Sakurai had a lot of ground to cover and Amaya was able to make third. Kurihara flew out to right - not very far but far enough for Amaya to make home 6-4 Tigers and the Carp were creeping closer. The next two batters were out easily and the innings was over.

Kishimoto started with a two base hit to Arai in Tigers seventh. Johjima followed him onto the sacks with a dead ball but once again Tigers failed to capitalize. Brazell hit into a double play which did move Arai to third but then Sakurai tried to put the ball over Soyogi but didn't get it high enough and lined out. Mayumi had decided that Kubo wasn't going to pitch a seventh and so Kubota took the mound for the Carp seventh. Kubota was comfortable and retired the batters 1-2-3 looking more and more like his old self. Shinoda pitched the Tigers eighth and did rather well keeing the runners off base. For Carp's eighth the pitcher was Tsutsui who placed his pitches with precision and allowed no one on base. By now the game was looking more and more like a Tigers victory. Shinoda returned for Tigers ninth and started well, striking out Toritani and Kanemoto but then blotting his copybook by walking Arai. A wild pitch took Arai to second but then Johjima grounded out to end the innings. Of course Carp's ninth was pitched by Fujikawa. He battled Kurihara for a long time before getting him to ground out. Fiorentino also battled before Fujikawa unleashed a superb inside straightball which completed fooled the Carp No.5 who struck out looking. The final batter was Huber who flew out to left to end the game. Tigers victory.

A very nice victory and Tigers have now won two series in a row which is a very good start to the season. Both Arai and Brazell had three hits and Kanemoto drove in the three runs. Kubo had a good start and also contributed with the bat though this isn't something we should expect too often. Mayumi did well with the relief and the fact that the last two pitchers Kubo and Nohmi have gone more than five innings each has helped enormously.