September 7th Standridge v Chen - One run is all that is needed

Toritani picked up his first MVP award for batting in August. He has been hitting nicely and settling into the No. 3 role. His contribution was the difference between the two sides in Tigers first 1-0 victory of the season and a really vital victory. Both pitchers pitched well but Tigers failed to exploit their chances to the full in the early stages. Kyuji Fujikawa pitched two full innings for the first time this season. He pitched within himself and at times lacked the control but was ultimately successful. One hopes he didn't tire himself out as it was a bit of a risk removing the one innings limit last month. The gap between Tigers and Dragons increased to 1.5 games with Giants 1.5 games behind. Things remain tight. Scores

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

Starting lineups

Dragons
1. Araki (Short)
2. Ohshima (Centre)
3. Morino (Third)
4. Wada (Left)
5. Blanco (First)
6. Nomoto (Right)
7. Tanishige (Catcher)
8. N. Donoue (Second)
9. Chen (Pitcher)

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

This game would turn out to be a pitching duel with Tigers facing Chen, one of Dragons better pitchers. Both batting lineups would struggle as both pitchers turned in quality starts. Standridge would be magnificent and exhibit some awesome control. He started the Dragons first with a hit to Araki. Ohshima bunted him to second and then Morino struck out. Wada grounded out to second and the innings was over. Tigers first two outs fell to Chen smoothly and then Toritani hit. However, Arai was totally anonymous this game and grounded out to end the innings. Tanishige hit with two out in Dragons second but then N. Donoue flew out to short to end the innings. Tigers second saw Brazell lead off with a hit but once again Tigers found it difficult to get round Chen and finally Johjima grounded out into a double play to end the innings. Dragons third was totally quiet with no one making base. Tigers third was different and was their first wasted chance - a sign that Chen was beginning to struggle. Like the Dragons it was the bottom of the order but unlike Dragons, Uemoto led off the innings with a hit to left. Standridge tried to bunt and failed, nice work by Chen. Then Murton hit and Tigers had runners on first and second. Shunsuke Fujikawa flew out deep to centre and Uemoto tagged up and made third. Next was Toritani who walked to load the bases with Arai to follow. He can hit in these situations but this time grounded out to third to end the innings and the chance.

Morino led off Dragons fourth. Wada grounded out to second and Blanco struck out - Dragons may want to think of making a play for Harper or Whitesell to add power. Blanco hasn't really produced that much this season. Nomoto was next and a wild pitch took Morino to second but Nomoto struck out to end the innings safely scores still tied at 0-0. Chen continued to struggle in Tigers fourth. Brazell hit to Araki who messed up the throw allowing Brazell to reach second. Kanemoto walked and then Johjima noticing that there was no cover at first bunted into the space and beat the field to load the bases with no outs. Nice intelligent batting by the Tigers catcher. Here things went a bit wrong. Uemoto, who should have waited, hit his second pitch straight to third. This produced a rather wild throw from Morino which was taken by Tanishige for the force out of Brazell going for home. Tanishige couldn't make the throw to first, it had taken all his skill to take Morino's effort and keep his feet on the home plate. Bases loaded with one out. Next was Standridge who isn't the best of batters and hit the ball straight back at Chen who threw to Tanishige for the second force out, this time of Kanemoto. This time Tanishige was able to make the throw to first for the double play and the Dragons had escaped a dangerous situation. Tigers had rather wasted their chance - a short ground out would have resulted in a run. Dragons fifth saw N. Donoue hit with one out. He was bunted to second by Chen who unlike Standridge had no problems with the stroke but Araki flew out to end the innings. It was Tigers turn to try again and Murton led off the fifth with a big hit to right which caught Nomoto standing too far in from the fence and turned into a comfortable two base hit. Shunsuke Fujikawa bunted him to third - an excellent bunt which landed short and forced Morino to come in and throw to first. Next was Toritani who hit fairly deep to centre and gave plenty of time for Murton to reach home 1-0 Tigers. Arai tried to hit to right and flew out but Tigers were now in the lead. Ohshima couldn't do anything to start the Dragons sixth but Morino hit to right. He stayed on first as Wada and Blanco failed to do anything. Brazell and Kanemoto fell in Tigers sixth before Johjima punched a two base to left. This time Chen walked Uemoto to get at Standridge who grounded out to end the innings.

Standridge returned for Dragons seventh and here Mayumi made some fielding changes the most significant of which was to bring Asai on. Standridge's pitching was excellent and he retired the batters in order - no trouble with the pitcher for him. Standridge would leave the game after this innings having pitched seven superb innings giving up only four hits and one walk. He had thrown only 95 pitches and Mayumi had shown great restraint and judgment in not trying to pitch him for another innings. Chen returned for Tigers seventh and was not so secure giving up a one out two base hit to Shunsuke Fujikawa. Toritani grounded out to first which took Shunsuke to third but then Arai once again failed to convert and the margin remained at the one run. For Dragons eighth Mayumi went with Kyuji Fujikawa deciding not to risk Kubota (who needs a bit of rest). This turned out to be exciting. Kyuji started by striking out T. Donoue (pinch hitter) but gave up a left hit to Araki. Araki then stole second and Kyuji managed to walk Ohshima - runners on first and second and things looking serious. Morino was next and here we had a very significant piece of fielding. Kyuji was not pitching well and Morino launched into a huge hit to centre. Asai was fielding centre and was standing further back than normal - Shunsuke Fujikawa would have been standing nearer in. The ball flew towards the centre field fence where Asai was able to take an excellent jumping catch for the out. It would have been a run scoring hit without Asai's excellent judgment. If there had been a runner on third it would have been a sacrifice fly but as it was Araki stayed on second. Wada was next and he walked to load the bases. It looked like Asai's excellent work would be undone. Kyuji lifted himself though and struck out Blanco looking in four with a beautiful outside pitch to end the innings. Tigers had escaped. For Tigers eighth, Ochiai chose Takahashi and he retired the batters in order. Kyuji continued to give Mayumi palpitations in Dragons ninth. He started the innings by walking Fujii (replacement right) in a display of poor pitching. Tanishige then tried to bunt but the pitch was very good and the bunt was poor flying out to Johjima and not advancing the runner. Ochiai had a rueful expression on his face after that one. N. Donoue was instructed to bunt as well and got it right moving Fujii round to second but with two outs. Koike (pinch hitter) took a dead ball, runners on first and second. Next was Araki who hit his second pitch to centre where it fell nicely into the glove of Asai for the final out. Tigers victory.

A hugely important victory for Tigers based on excellent pitching. Despite his waywardness Kyuji had had enough to control the Dragons and Standridge had been dominating for his first 10 win season in Japan. The save was Kyuji's 24th and both pitchers shared the hero's rostrum. Starting the Murton to 200 hits counter - he hit twice today and now needs 23 more to reach that target. Arai remains on 96 RBIs and Toritani is now on 91. Tigers can take heart from the victory but do need to convert more of their chances. What was especially good was the steely will and hard work exhibited to make the victory happen.