July 7th Shimoyanagi v Nakazawa - Tigers battle through

A tight match in which Swallows showed an ability to make a paucity of hits count whilst Tigers were profligate with their hits without producing son many runs. Swallows without the added incentive of a poor pitcher struggle to produce runs and need to rely on good pitching which they don't always get. Scores

          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Swallows  1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2  5 0
Tigers    0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 X 3 10 0

Starting lineups

Swallows
1. Aoki (Centre)
2. Tanaka (Second)
3. Iihara (Left)
4. Guiel (Right)
5. D'Antona (First)
6. Aikawa (Catcher)
7. Miyamoto (Third)
8. Onizaki (Short)
9. Nakazawa (Pitcher)

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

Swallows start was spectacular with Aoki hitting a straight home run off Shimoyanagi's first pitch. Fortunately for Tigers he was the only one. Shimoyanagi dead balled Whitesell - what is it about Whitesell that attracts Shimoyanagi pitches like a magnet? D'Antona struck out swinging and Tigers had ony a small lead to chase. Their first saw Murton hit a two base with two out but Arai did not convert and Swallows retained the lead. Aikawa led off Swallows second with a hit but then Miyamoto hit into a double play. This meant that Onizaki was an easy out to end the innings. Johjima hit a two base with one out in the bottom of the second and Asai walked to set up runners on first and second. This looked ominous but Nakazawa was up to the challenge and retired the next two batters to get out of the innings with the Swallows lead intact. In Swallows third Aoki hit on his next time up. He was bunted to second by Tanaka but then Iihara flew out to end the innings. Hirano drew a one out walk in Tigers third. Murton hit to left but things were stalled by Arai's fly out. Brazell, though, banged his first pitch into right allowing Hirano to score 1-1 scores tied, runners on first and third. Then Johjima hit his second pitch to left to bring home Murton 2-1 Tigers, runners on first and second and the lead in Tigers hands. Sakurai flew out and the innings was over.

The lead did not last long. Shimoyanagi got the first two outs of Swallows fourth easily enough, he struck out Guiel and then got D'Antona to fly out. Facing Aikawa he ran into trouble leaving an inviting pitch for Aikawa to hit over the Koshien left fence for a solo home run 2-2 scores tied. Miyamoto tried to hit to third but only lined out to Arai and ended the innings. Toritani managed a two out hit in Tigers fourth. Hirano followed with a two base which set up runners on second and third and a very nice posittion. Unfortunately for Tigers, Murton managed to ground out to short and that chance was missed. Swallows fifth was quiet and the batters fell in order. Arai led off Tigers fifth with a hit and then stayed on first as no one was able to move him round. The innings ended scoreless. Tanaka led off Swallows sixth with a hit and found himself in exactly the same situation as Arai - no one moved him from first. Mayumi decided that six innings was enough for Shimoyanagi this outing. So with one out he was pinch hit for by Sekimoto. He hit one to right which somehow stayed fair and crept ovef the fence for a solo home run 3-2 Tigers. This one was lucky - that is the only way to describe it. No one else managed to do anything but the lead was back with the Tigers.

They needed to hold this lead and so Mayumi nominated Watanbe as pitcher for the Swallows seventh. This was one of his more nervy innings and Tigers coaching staff breathed a collective sigh of relief when it was over. He started by walking Aikawa which was not welcome. Two ground outs took Aikawa to third and then Ueda (pinch hitter) picked up a dead ball. This was unnecessary however, Miyamoto thankfully hit into a second ground out to end the innings. Hardly the most inspiring of innings but at least the lead was intact. Oshimoto pitched Tigers seventh and was nearly as bad as Watanabe. He started by giving up a centre hit to Murton. An Arai double play removed that threat but then he walked Brazell. Luckily for him he was able to induce Johjima to hit to short for the ground out and the end of the innings. With the seventh out of the way Mayumi could contemplate Kubota and Kyuji Fujikawa and this is exactly what he did. Kubota breezed through the Swallows eighth striking out two of the three batters he faced. Matsuoka did the same in the Tigers eighth but only struck out one. Kyuji Fujikawa managed to walk Aikawa in the Swallows ninth but finished with the runner stranded on first to end the game. Tigers victory.

This had been close and relied on Sekimoto's lucky home run in the sixth. Tigers relief had been good and Kyuji picked up his 15th save. The series had fallen to Tigers quite easily and they could look forward to the final game with confidence.