October 9th Standridge v Kobayashi - Kyuji redeemed

Standridge returned needing a win and being forced to rely on Fujikawa with the memory of the previous game still fresh in the minds of the players. Fortunately Fujikawa had learned and was much better. He still had to fight but was much more aware and varied his pitching better. The result was Standridge picked up his first win in nine games. It wasn't a vintage performance by any means and once again Fujii's inadequacies as a catcher were exposed. Mayumi also showed his tendency to get things wrong trying to pitch Enokida for two innings - it wasn't necessary and Fukuhara had to come to the rescue. The latter was always a curate's egg type of starter but has matured into a fine relief pitcher with a surprisingly nice fastball. Scores

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

Starting lineups

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

BayStars
1. Shimozono (Left)
2. Matsumoto (Right)
3. Tsutsugoh (First)
4. Murata (Third)
5. Watanabe (Short)
6. Aranami (Centre)
7. Yamazaki (Second)
8. Kurobane (Catcher)
9. Kobayashi (Pitcher)

Tigers start was quiet - they struggled to some extent with Kobayashi but possessed enough knowledge and experience to take advantage of his loose pitches. The first saw all three batters fall in order. Standridge started by getting Shimozono to ground out but then walked Matsumoto. Matsumoto tried to steal second but the throw from Fujii was rather Kanoh style (to the right of the base) which gave Toritani plenty of time to make the tag for the second out. Finally, Tsutsugoh flew out to Toritani to end the BayStars first. Kobayashi's wanderings emerged in Tigers second when Arai led off with a successful hit to centre. Brazell and Murton both flew out which brought up Sekimoto. He hit deep into left centre - the ball landing at the junction of the wall and field and being fumbled by Aranami who went to pick up. This allowed Arai to round the bases from first and make home safely 1-0 Tigers, runner on second. Fujii then grounded out to second to end the innings. Standridge then blew the lead - he was a bit loose to Murata who took a swing and propelled the ball along the third baseline. Even Murata was unsure if this was going to be a home run as he bent round to look and waited. The ball was just inside the foul pole - a solo home run 1-1 scores tied. That was a nice piece of luck for the bottom placed team. The next three batters fell in a row with only Yamazaki putting up any resistance before grounding out to second. Tigers third was led off by Standridge who hit into left. Next was Hirano who hit towards second where a superb piece of fielding by Matsumoto stopped it being a hit. Standridge was forced out and as he slid in colided with Watanabe preventing the double play. Shibata though hit a liner to first with Hirano being caught off base for the double play. Then came Standridge's first wobble. Kurobane hit into centre and was bunted to second by Kobayashi. Shimozono worked the count full and walked, Fujii calling the wrong pitches. Matsumoto grounded out to short and Toritani threw to third for the force out - runners on first and second. Tsutsugoh walked to load the bases and Murata had his second chance for glory. This time he failed and struck out swinging to a nice fork from Standridge.

Toritani led off Tigers fourth with a double to centre. Arai flew out to right and Brazell hit a grounder to first which took Toritani to third. Murton blasted one back at Kobayashi who got his glove on it but couldn't do anything to stop the ball and Toritani was home 2-1 Tigers, runner on first. Sekimoto hit nicely to left but lined out to Murata to end the innings. Still Tigers had the lead back. BayStars fourth was quiet as Standridge retired the batters in order. He was still using too many pitches but showed some nice stuff this innings. Tigers fifth and Fujii managed to work the count full and walk. Stanrdridge bunted him to second and then Hirano walked to set up runners on first and second. Shibata grounded out to Kobayashi but managed to move the runners round to second and third. However, this time Toritani swung too soon and flew out to short to end the chance. This was a bit of a waste. BayStars fifth saw Shimozono hit into right centre for a two base with two outs. Matsumoto was next and grounded out easily to first to end the innings. A pitching change ocurred here with Ushida taking over from Kobayashi. Arai led off Tigers sixth with a single. Brazell scooped one up into centre for the fly out but Murton banged out a two base. Because there was no fumble Arai stopped on third and Tigers had runners on second and third with only one out. Sekimoto hit deep into right for the sacrifice but Matsumoto was quick with the throw. Arai is fast round the bases but doesn't have the raw acceleration and as he slid in was tagged out for the innings ended double play. It was good work by the BayStars to prevent the run. So Standridge returned for his sixth and probably last innings. He started well striking out Tsutsugoh looking. Murata flew out to second and just one out was needed. His control wandered at this point and Watanabe walked. Once again you have to ask what was Fujii thinking as his calling was partially a contributory factor to the walk. Aranami hit left to set up runners on first and second and then Kurobane also walked. Bases loaded with two outs and Obana sent a pinch hitter Nakamura to the plate. Nakamura battled hard but was struck out by Standridge to end the innings. Both teams had had their lucky escapes.

Tigers seventh was quiet as Ushida found the batters more to his liking. For BayStars seventh Mayumi went with Enokida. He did well striking out two batters of the three he faced. Ohhara took over for Tigers eighth and got Shibata to swing too soon and fly out to short. Then Toritani grounded out to short. There now ocurred one of those pointless pitching changes so beloved of Japanese managers. Nothing was wrong with Ohhara's pitching but Fujie took over to deal with Arai. This he did getting Arai to line out to third and end the innings. Enokida returned for BayStars eighth and walked Tsutsugoh looking particularly poor as he did so. This brought Fukuhara to the mound who faced Murata. Murata struck out swinging as did Watanabe. This was some fine pitching by Fukuhara with the final batter Aranami grounding out to end the innings. Tigers ninth was quiet - both Murton and Sekimoto struck out. So to BayStars ninth with Fujikawa as pitcher. He needed to redeem himself and show that he could pitch with intelligence which had been missing from the night before. He started by striking out Yamazaki looking. Then Hosoyamada - the hero of the previous night swung wildly and flew out to Arai at first who took a fine catch. Naitoh (pinch hitter) battled and managed a lucky hit to centre. The BayStars fans began to get excited. They hoped for a repeat. It was not to be Shimozono battled hard but was induced to ground out to second to end the game. Tigers victory.

Kyuji had redeemed himself and picked up his 37th save of the season. Tigers have now won five out of six of the long run of games and can be pleased with the start. They had to work for this victory but pulled through nicely. Standridge pitched up his ninth victory and his first since 27th July. He can be happy with this performance which was hard won and done in spite of having Fujii as catcher.