April 19th Nohmi v Tohno - Brothers together

The first Tigers/Giants clash of the year and a classic tight match with fine pitching and intelligent batting. Nohmi tied Tigers record for strike outs in a row - seven Giants falling. The last time a Tigers pitcher achieved this feat was back in 1960 - Murayama also against Giants. Nohmi did very well to hold a one run lead till the seventh but Tohno also pitched well. Scores

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E
Giants  0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0  0 2 6 0
Tigers  1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1x 3 8 0

Starting lineups

Giants
1. Sakamoto (Short)
2. Wakiya (Second)
3. Ogasawara (First)
4. Ramirez (Left)
5. Takahashi (Right)
6. Chono (Centre)
7. Ryal (Third)
8. Tsuruoka (Catcher)
9. Tohno (Pitcher)

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

Giants were missing their regular catcher Abe and so their power production was down. Takahashi was preferred at right because he often performs well against the Tigers. The game started with Sakamoto striking out but Wakiya hit. Ogasawara struck out and then Wakiya strayed too far off first and Nohmi's throw to Brazell caught him off base. Toritani and Brazell then trapped and ran Wakiya down for the final out of the innings. Good work by the Tigers pitcher. Tigers first started quietly with two outs quickly falling before Toritani hit to centre. A wild pitch took him to third as Arai worked a walk to set up runners on first and second. Brazell followed and blooped his first pitch to left where it landed conveniently between short and left for a timely hit 1-0 Tigers, runners on first and third. Kanemoto took a full count before swinging and flying out in foul ground. Here Nohmi took control striking out the three batters he faced. Tigers second was similarly resultless as Tohno controlled his pitching well. In Giants third Nohmi struck out another three batters, once again allowing no runners. Tigers batters in the third all flew out but no one reached base either.

The focus switched in Giants fourth to groundouts. Nohmi was really motoring now and Giants were unable to touch him. Arai led off Tigers fourth with a hit but was caught off first by Brazell's liner and both players were out. Kanemoto flew out to third and is regularly mistiming his swing at the moment. The fifth saw a couple more Nohmi strike outs but once again the Giants couldn't get a runner on base. Unfortunately neither could the Tigers and their fifth was also unproductive. Finally, in Giants sixth they got a hit. Ryal led off but was forced out by Tsuruoka's bunt. Tohno also tried to bunt but pushed the ball too far and Nohmi was able to set up a double play to end the innings. Once again nice work. Tigers sixth was quiet.

Into the Giants seventh with a one run lead and Nohmi returning to the mound. Giants fans - of which there were quite a large contingent by Koshien standards - upped their noise level. Sakamoto led off with a hit to left. A Wakiya bunt took him to second but Ogasawara grounded out. This brought up Ramirez. In his previous run of strike outs Nohmi had used his fork devastatingly as the strike out ball on six out of the seven occasions. He tried it again but this time Ramirez was wise to the situation and lifted his sixth pitch over second into centre. It was a bit of a risk but nothing ventured - nothing gained and Ramirez was successful. Sakamoto was able to round the bases for home 1-1 scores tied, runner on first and an intelligent piece of batting. Takahashi flew out to end the innings. Tohno also returned for the seventh innings and here ran into trouble. Arai hit to centre followed by Brazell doing the same - runners on first and second with a sacrifice fly a distinct possibility. Kanemoto grounded out to first but the ball ran along the baseline denying Ogasawara the chance to turn a double play. Kanemoto was out but the runners had moved round to second and third. Johjima's first pitch was a dead ball - an accident, Tohno lost control. Johjima didn't look too happy but Tohno looked mortified and doffed his cap apologising profusely. Bases were now loaded. Lin was brought in to pinch hit for Shunsuke and he hit the fly to left. Arai tagged up and was home 2-1 Tigers, runners on first and second. Hiyama (pinch hitter for Nohmi) followed and struck out to end the innings. A 2-1 lead with the relief to come seemed to be a good enough lead for Tigers to win. Nohmi had been amazingly economical over his seven innings striking out ten in 89 pitches and giving up only one run on four hits. However, he was tiring and Mayumi was right to replace him. His choice is perhaps more questionable, Kobayashi. He still needs time to settle down though he is undoubtedly a very good relief pitcher. Kubota might have been a much better choice here. Kobayashi started well getting Chono to ground out and Ryal to strike out but then gave up a hit to Konta. Still nothing to worry about - one out to go and a runner on first. Here Kobayashi's nerve deserted him and he threw a wild pitch taking the runner to second. Then he walked Kamei (pinch hitter) runners on first and second. Sakamoto was next and hit his second pitch to left. Konta made home 2-2 scores tied and runners on first and second. Wakiya struck out but Kobayashi had blown Nohmi's hard work. Romero pitched Tigers eighth and walked Toritani with two out but Arai struck out and the game remained tied. For Giants ninth Mayumi used Kyuji who also had a nervy outing. He struck out Ogasawara looking but then walked Ramirez. Takahashi struck out swinging but then Chono walked to set up runners on first and second. Fujikawa didn't lose control and got Yano (pinch hitter) to ground out and end the innings. Kubo pitched Tigers ninth and walked Johjima but Lin flew out to end the innings.

Giants tenth saw Kubota who was very effective needing just eight pitches to dispose of the three batters he faced. As a result of previous replacements Tigers had Asai at centre, Lin at left and Ryota Arai at first. The latter was to prove highly significant. Kubo started the Tigers tenth and gave up a lead off hit to Sekimoto (pinch hitter). After getting Murton to ground out he was replaced by Yamaguchi who got the second out - a Hirano ground out which did though take Yamato (pinch running for Sekimoto) to second. Toritani walked and Yamaguchi faced Arai. He hit past third into the outfield where Sakamoto made a nice diving stop which was not enough to prevent the runners moving round and Arai making first - bases loaded. The next batter was Arai's brother Ryota who hit his third pitch into right for a sayonara single. 3-2 Tigers victory.

A good game to win, Tigers had kept things tight and even though they had had to fight the Giants all the way had eventually prevailed. Kubota picked up the win but Nohmi had been unfortunate as his pitching had been superlative. Tohno hadn't been able to hold the lead but if the situations were reversed and the game had been at Tokyo Dome the result might have been different. It was also nice to see Arai congratulate his brother on his winning hit. So far it is looking like Ryota Arai was a good trade.