September 6th Messenger v Bullington - A valuable win

Tigers didn't exactly put Carp and Bullington to the sword but they got the win - their first one against Bullington. Messenger pitched very well apart from a hiatus in the third and became the first Tigers pitcher this season to reach 10 wins. He really has come along. On the subject of rotations, Tigers have decided to go with a five man rotation for September; Nohmi, Messenger, Standridge, Iwata and Kubo in no particular order. Ideally they want a six man rotation but none of the candidates for the sixth spot have impressed the coaches enough. We might still see an extra pitcher slotted in occasionally but we are not likely to see Shimoyanagi any more this season. One can't say that this is a great loss. It was also nice to see sanity restored and the batting order back to normal with Arai at four again and Sekimoto at six. Scores

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

Starting lineups

Carp
1. Higashide (Second)
2. Akamatsu (Centre)
3. Shima (Left)
4. Kurihara (First)
5. Maru (Right)
6. Barden (Third)
7. Ishihara (Catcher)
8. Kimura (Short)
9. Bullington (Pitcher)

Tigers
1. Hirano (Second)
2. Shibata (Centre)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Arai (Third)
5. Murton (Right)
6. Sekimoto (First)
7. Kanemoto (Left)
8. Fujii (Catcher)
9. Messenger (Pitcher)

All started well and the Carp's first was quiet with the batters going down in order. Bullington did not start so well and with Hirano out walked Shibata. Toritani flew out but Arai hit to right and Shibata raced round to third. Tigers had a good chance. Unfortunately, Murton's first pitch was hit straight to short for the ground out to end the innings. Carp's second was quiet as well, 4-6 having the same problem as 1-3 and not being able to get on base. Tigers second was also quiet with Bullington striking out Kanemoto and Fujii in quick succession to end the innings. Finally, in the third, the Carp managed their first hit, a single to left from Ishihara. He was forced out by Kimura's ground out to second but the double play came off. Then the real shock - Bullington hit to right - runners on first and second. Higashide hit to right as well to load the bases, with one out. Tigers were in a spot of bother. Akamatsu hit to Toritani at short who with the force out at home not being an option threw to first for the second out 1-0 Carp, runners on second and third. Tigers were still in danger but Messenger struck out Shima to end the innings. Carp had a slender lead. Tigers bounce back came from a surprising source, Messenger led off their third with a single to centre. Hirano walked and then Shibata bunted the runners to second and third for the first out. The sacrifice was on and Toritani hit high to left which gave Messenger plenty of time to make home 1-1 scores tied, runner on third. Arai also went left but flew out to end the innings. Tigers had squared things pretty quickly.

Messenger then held the line nicely retiring the Carp in order in their fourth. I've mentioned in earlier posts about the Carp how Bullington is actually vulnerable and this was the case tonight. But getting the runners home wasn't easy. Tigers fourth was a case in point. With one out Sekimoto hit a two base to third. He then made third himself on Kanemoto's ground out. Here fate was kind to Bullington who only had to face Fujii. Fujii tries hard but isn't the best batter in the lineup and this time he grounded out to Bullington to end the innings. Messenger stumbled slightly in Carp's fifth walking Barden with two out. Barden then tried to steal second which one would have thought was done more for its surprise than its likelihood of success. He was thrown out to end the innings. Finally in their fifth Tigers were able to get to Bullington sufficiently. The first batter was Messenger who was out this time. Then Hirano hit to left and was bunted to second by Shibata. Toritani was next and he hit into centre bringing in Hirano 2-1 Tigers. Toritani tried to take second as well but was tagged out to end the innings. The slender lead now belonged to Tigers. Then Messenger rampaged through the top of the Carp's order in the sixth retiring them 1-2-3. A very valuable innings. Arai led off Tigers sixth with a walk. Murton hit to set up runners on first and second with no outs. Sekimoto though hit straight to short for a double play - a really stupid shot. Arai made third and Carp decided to walk Kanemoto to get at Fujii. This was effective and Fujii flew out to left - swinging at his first pitch to end the innings.

Messenger was by now reaching his limit but had one more innings left in him. Once again this was a good one and the Carp's seventh was quiet with no runner reaching base. Tigers seventh was more lively. Bullington was tiring but struck out Morita (pinch hitter) and then got Hirano to ground out. Shibata hit to centre and then Bullington dead balled Toritani. Next was Arai who also collected a dead ball to load the bases. This was a difficult situation. Fortunately for Carp Murton also tried the left hit route and flew out to end the innings. Carp were still in with a chance. They couldn't do anything about it though - Enokida pitched the eighth and retired the batters in order including the pinch hitters. Carp just couldn't hit at all. Imamura pitched Tigers eighth and with one out gave up a hit to Shunsuke (replacement left). Mayumi still wanted to put the game beyond doubt which in Japanese management terms means having the next player bunt. Admittedly with the way Fujii was playing this was probably the best use of his ability and he duly bunted Shunsuke to second. This brought a pitching change with Aoki coming to the mound. Mayumi sent Hiyama in to pinch hit but he struck out swinging to end the innings - it's been quite a while since he's done that. Carp's ninth was Fujikawa and Carp didn't mount much of a challenge. They didn't seem to have any answer at all that night and Kyuji retired the batters in order striking out two out them. Tigers victory.

Despite the scoreline a surprisingly comfortable victory in which Carp had struggled to hit. Tigers had had their chances against Bullington but hadn't managed to take them. They did take enough though to win the match and can be satisfied with breaking the hold that Bullington has over them. Kyuji picked up his 32nd save and Messenger his 10th victory. Tigers need to do it again tonight but this game was a good one to win.