July 10th Tsuru v Shimizu - Hirano loses the game

One has to give credit to Shimizu, BayStars pitcher as well who did very well though once again Tigers batters failed to show patience with him. However, Hirano's error was pretty bad and did provide the difference between victory and defeat. BayStars had a fair amount of luck coupled with some nice hitting from Murata but Tigers batters had an off-day. Scores

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

Starting lineups

BayStars
1. Shimozono (Centre)
2. Ishikawa (Short)
3. Uchikawa (Right)
4. Murata (Third)
5. Sledge (Left)
6. Harper (First)
7. Takeyama (Catcher)
8. Fujita (Second)
9. Shimizu (Pitcher)

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

Tsuru would start the BayStars first nervously, walking Shimozono. BayStars though seemed disinclined to bunt and Ishikawa struck out swinging, Uchikawa flew out and Murata grounded out. Shimozono stayed on first. Shimizu's start was also unconvincing. Hirano hit his first pitch deep into right centre and then turned the hit into a three base with only one out. This was a great opportunity to get on the scoreboard but Tigers blew it. Murton walked and then Arai struck out swinging at one he should have left. Normally, he would have left the pitch as well but wasn't thinking (a condition which does occasionally afflict him). Brazell flew out to left ending the innings tamely when it had promised more. Harper, in his first game at Koshien hit to right but nothing came of this and BayStars second was quiet. With Johjima out in Tigers second Lin hit a two base. Asai was next and he stroked nicely to left for a two run home run 2-0 Tigers. Tsuru and Toritani struck out but the lead was established. BayStars third was quiet with the batters falling in order. Tigers third was also quiet and here we saw the Tigers problem - they had a lead and decided to sit on it. Shimizu had shown himself vulnerable but no one exploited this and from now on there were a lot of loose shots.

In BayStars fourth Murata who began to take advantage of Tsuru's inexperience hit and and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Sledge failed but Harper swung hopefully and contacted well enough to drive the ball into right. Murata was fast round the bases and made home safely 2-1 Tigers, runner on first. Takeyama flew out but Tigers needed to take note of the wake up call. Instead a succession of batters (Johjima, Lin, Asai) swung at their first pitch - it did generate two hits but with two outs and Tsuru next it was all a bit of a waste. Tsuru struck out swinging to end the fourth. Fujita then led off the BayStars fifth with a hit but Shimizu failed to make the bunt and was out with three failures. Shimozono flew out in foul ground - actually in the extreme left corner and Lin had to make a very fine catch for the out. Here we saw a weakness in the latter's game - Lin's throw is very weak and Fujita had time to make second. This weakness would be very significant later in the day. Ishikawa grounded out to second but it was clear that the BayStars were not out of the game and were challenging hard. Tigers fifth was Shimizu's best innings with some nice controlled pitching which prevented the runners getting on base. Tsuru returned for BayStars sixth and was in trouble - his pitching lacked conviction and with one out Murata hit a very nice home run to left centre 2-2 scores tied. Sledge and Harper failed to do anything and the innings was over. Tigers had ceded control of this game. Tigers sixth saw Arai and Johjima get out too easily - Brazell did make Shimizu work and this is what the other batters needed to do.

Perhaps surprisingly Tsuru returned for BayStars seventh and was immediately in trouble. Takeyama hitting along the third baseline - one which was over Arai and just landed in. Takeyama made second and then third on Fujita's ground out. The next batter was Shimizu and this represented an easy out. Shimizu bounced one straight at Hirano who had come in and Hirano made an appalling mess of the take. Going under the ball he deflected it past second base with his glove and ended up on his back in the process. The concept was sound but the execution lacking. Takeyama was well out if the throw had been made and possibly a double play was also on. As it was Takeyama was home and Shimizu safe on first 3-2 BayStars. Surprisingly, Mayumi then brought Fujihara on to replace Tsuru - certainly a baptism of fire for the youngster. He got the first out and then had to work to get Ishikawa out though he managed it in the end. Tigers seventh saw some rather inept batting by the Tigers and Shimizu had a comfortable innings. Watanabe pitched BayStars eighth and made rather heavy weather of the innings eventually retiring the batters in order. BayStars were in the driving seat and playing with confidence. Tigers eighth was more of the same - batters swinging too early and no one reached base. For BayStars ninth Kubota took the mound and he faced Harper. Harper hit nicely to left but would have only made first except for Lin's poor arm and Toritani's misguided attempt to intercept the throw. Harper was replaced by a pinch runner, Nonaka as it was obvious that he had been lucky to get to second. Takeyama bunted the runner to third and then Fujita hit. Rather he fluffed his hit getting under the ball but it flew to right and then suddenly died making sure that no one could get it. The runner was home 4-2 BayStars, runner on first. Shimizu bunted Fujita to second and then Yoshimura (replacement centre) grounded out to end the innings. Shimizu returned for Tigers ninth which seemed a rather foolish decision. He had a lead and the logical option would have been to bring on Yamaguchi to close the innings off. Shimizu started by demonstrating the truth of the logical option. He walked Arai. Brazell flew out and then Johjima hit to left - runners on first and second. Lin also hit to left and the bases were loaded with just one out. Here it might have been worthwhile for Arai to try for home, he probably would have made it and it would have increased the pressure on BayStars. However, the ninth innings was generally mishandled by Tigers. Shimizu came off and Yamaguchi took the mound facing Asai. He hit a sacrifice fly to right centre but also messed things up because he had fouled a couple of balls on a full count when he could have worked an oshidashi. The score was 4-3, runners on first and third with two outs and could have been 4-3 bases loaded one out. Mayumi then made a mistake sending in Hiyama to pinch hit. This situation was better suited for Sekimoto and one is puzzled why he wasn't used. Shunsuke Fujikawa (pinch running for Lin) stole second but Hiyama swung too early and flew out infield to end the game. BayStars victory.

BayStars had fought hard and despite their luck had deserved the victory. Tigers hadn't really tried hard enough and had failed to take advantage of early opportunities. The ninth innings had been poorly handled with selection of shots by the batters and choice of pinch hitter all being ill-considered. Still the Giants lost and so the gap between the teams remained at 1.5 games.