April 10th Uezono v Yoshinori Satoh - The first Grand Slam

It's nice to be able to blog a victory for a change. The start to April has been most dispiriting but hopefully change is in the air. Tigers do need to improve their error count though - they managed another one this game. Mayumi was also more aggressive in challenging a questionable call by the first base umpire. 'Chyanto Meru' was his advice (it means watch properly). Scores

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

Starting lineups

Swallows
1. Miwa (Left)
2. Tanaka (Second)
3. Aoki (Centre)
4. D'Antona (First)
5. Guiel (Right)
6. Miyamoto (Third)
7. Fujimoto (Short)
8. Kinugawa (Catcher)
9. Yoshinori Satoh (Pitcher

Tigers
1. Murton (Centre)
2. Hirano (Second)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Arai (Third)
6. Johjima (Catcher)
7. Brazell (First)
8. Katsuragi (Right)
9. Uezono (Pitcher)

Uezono would pitch much better than his previous start which itself was a great improvement on his first start. It's nice to see him settling down and pitching as he can. Still, his first innings showed he's not quite there yet. With one out Tanaka hit to centre. D'Antona followed with a two base hit to set up runners on second and third and things looked dangerous. They looked even more dangerous when Guiel walked to load the bases but Miyamoto was able to come to the rescue and fly out to get Uezono out of the jam. There would be no guardian angel for Yoshinori. He started with a hit to the irrepressible Murton. Hirano hit to short and then beat out the throw but the umpire was wool gathering and gave him out. This prompted Mayumi's excursion and admonition. Anyway the ground out took Murton to second and Toritani hit to left to set up runners on the corners. Next was Kanemoto and what would he do after his mess up of the night before. He hit nicely left bringing home the run 1-0 Tigers, runners on first and second. Arai walked to load the bases and this brought up Johjima. He blasted a loose Yoshinori pitch into the centre stand for a grand slame 5-0 Tigers. It was Johjima's first grand slam in Tigers colours and Tigers first one of the season. Yoshinori retired the next two batters but the damage had been done. However, Tigers still needed to hold this lead and they had blown a similar lead just the month before (5-0 against the Dragons). Uezono was good and even though he was faced with the bottom of the Swallows order ensured that the Swallows second was quiet. Impressively, Yoshinori also lifted his pitching and Tigers second was also quiet. Swallows tried to get back in the third starting with a Tanaka hit. Aoki grounded out to first but this was messed up (too many errors) and Swallows had runners on first and second. D'Antona flew out which took Tanaka to third but the crisis was over and Uezono struck out Guiel to end the innings. Tigers third saw the cleanup all ground out to keep the score the same.

Miyamoto picked up a walk to lead off the Swallows fourth - currently he is pretty anonymous. Fujimoto lined out to Toritani and then Kinugawa hit into a double play to end the innings. Yoshinori returned the favour in Tigers fourth, walking Brazell but nothing came of this either. Swallows fifth was quiet but Murton walked in Tigers fifth. He fell to a Toritani double play and the innings was scoreless. Yoshinori and Uezono by now were both in the groove and pitching nicely. Aoki managed a two base hit in Swallows sixth but Uezono got the next three batters to ground out safely. So far he had done a marvellous job of protecting his lead. Tigers sixth was also quiet with no one making base.

Swallows big chance came in the seventh. Uezono returned but ran into trouble walking first Fujimoto and then Kinugawa. Iihara (pinch hitter) grounded out to first and which put Fujimoto on third. At this point Mayumi decided that a relief pitcher would be a good idea. Tsutsui was summoned and promptly dead balled Hatakeyama (pinch hitter) to load the bases. Not exactly what Mayumi had hoped for. Tanaka hit a sacrifice fly to left 5-1 Tigers, runners on first and second. This brought up Aoki who grounded out to end the innings. Swallows needed to have made more of this chance. Tigers seventh was pitched by Kato and saw Sekimoto (pinch hitter) hammer out a two base hit with one gone. He was joined on base by Murton who picked up his first deliberate walk in Japan. Unfortunately Asai (pinch hitter) struck out to end the innings. Swallows eighth saw Kubota. He was also much better than previously, he struck out D'Antona and then Guiel. He then followed it with a hit to Miyamoto. Fujimoto was next and he had his first two base hit against his old club, runners on second and third. Possibly, Kubota would have melted down previously but this time he was firm and struck out Kinugawa to end the innings. Katoh also pitched Tigers eighth and walked Asai but nothing came of this. For the ninth Mayumi turned to Fujikawa. It wasn't a save situation but Tigers needed the win desperately. With one out he walked Yuichi (pinch hitter) and then gave up a hit to Tanaka which set up runners on first and second. Aoki struck out and then D'Antona grounded out to third to end the game. Tigers victory

A well worked victory in which Tigers had taken the lead and then held it. Uezono picked up the win, his first for a long time and had pitched well. Johjima had been pivotal and his grand slam a well received tonic. Tigers now need to build on this and string a winning streak together.