March 26th Tigers v Athletics - Exhibtion game

Tigers definitely earned bragging rights winning this game in fine style and gaining revenge for their 10-2 defeat when the teams previously met. This game was caught by Fujii who luckily had ample run support as once again he didn't look good. Both starters in the two games threw exactly 86 pitches over five innings. Messenger had only four hits but gave up four runs whilst Iwata had six hits with no runs. The relief in the first game threw 54 pitches and gave up one run on two hits. In the second game they threw 75 pitches combined and gave up 2 runs on 4 hits. So under Fujii Tigers gave up six runs and only the fact that they were scoring kept them as winners. With Komiyama as catcher they were looking at a shutout victory until the ninth and then the only run given up was a solo home run. Komiyama handled both starters and relief better and as catcher worked better with his pitchers to keep runs down. This also backs up the figures in my post on the last Buffaloes game where pitchers working with Fujii were by a long way more profligate than with Komiyama. I look forward to seeing Komiyama starting on opening day. Scores

           1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9  R  H E
Athletics  0 0 0 4 0 1 0 0 1  6  8 3
Tigers     2 1 4 1 0 0 1 3 X 12 14 0

Starting lineups

Athletics
1. Weeks (Second)
2. Pennington (Short)
3. Crisp (Left)
4. Gomez (DH)
5. Reddick (Right)
6. Suzuki (Catcher)
7. Ka'aihue (First)
8. Cowgill (Centre)
9. Sogard (Third)

PItcher was Ross

Tigers
1. Hirano (Second)
2. Shibata (Centre)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Arai (Third)
5. Brazell (First)
6. Kanemoto (Left)
7. Johjima (DH)
8. Fujii (Catcher)
9. Itoh (Right)

Pitcher was Messenger

Messenger started on fire and struck out Weeks. Another out later Crisp walked but Gomes struck out looking to end the first. Ross started well but Oakland's first error let Toritani on base. This would cost them dear with Arai hammering a two run home run to right 2-0 Tigers. Brazell hit but Kanemoto struck out swinging. Still a good start by Tigers with Arai's bat finally waking up. Oakland's second was quiet and the batters fell in order. Johjima led off Tigers second with a single to centre. He was bunted to second by Fujii who is surprisingly batting above Itoh even though the rookie is the better batter. Still it worked out well as Itoh singled to centre to bring in Johjima 3-0 Tigers, runner on first. Finally, Hirano grounded out to first but Tigers were looking very strong. Athletics were still struggling and the third was also quiet - it was looking like the Fujii/Messenger combination was working well. Tigers third was anything but quiet. With one out Toritani drew a walk. Arai was next and drove a two base into right centre setting up runners on second and third. Brazell drove right to bring home Toritani 4-0 Tigers, runners on first and third. Then Kanemoto also hammered out a two base hit into right centre 5-0 Tigers runners on second and third. Johjima went for the sacrifice fly which was taken by Cowgill at centre. Brazell tagged up and was home with Kanemoto moving round to third and caught off base but Pennington messed up the throw and Kanemoto seized the opportunity to make home as well 7-0 Tigers. Fujii somehow scrambled a hit but this time Itoh grounded out to end the innings.

The game should have been safe but the Messenger/Fujii combination contrived to put that in doubt. Messenger was no doubt a bit nervous and Oakland wanted to strike back but whilst Komiyama would have calmed things down Fujii was incapable of this. Pennington took a huge swing at his first pitch and blasted the ball into the right stand for a solo home run 7-1 Tigers. Crisp hit a two base to right and then Gomes walked. This wasn't good stuff but the first out did follow with Reddick grounding out to third. This brought Suzuki to the plate and the Athletics catcher drove a full count pitch into the stands for a three run home run 7-4 Tigers. Oakland were within striking distance another out followed and then Cowgill was able to hit to first and beat the field. Sogard flew out to left though to end the innings. Ross' nightmare wasn't over yet though. Tigers came back in the fourth. With two out Toritani singled and then with Arai at the plate stole second. Arai hit to centre bringing in Toritani 8-4 Tigers, runner on second. Athletics fifth was quiet with no one making base. For Tigers fifth the visitors changed their catcher and pitcher, the former being Recker and the latter Scribner. This combination worked well and the Tigers fifth was also quiet. Tsuru took over for Athletics sixth and was quickly in trouble - Fujii's propensity to bleed runs being very apparent. Reddick hit a one out two base. Another out followed and then Ka'aihue singled bringing in the runner 8-5 Tigers, runner on first. Cowgill grounded out to end the innings. The Recker/Scribner combination was still proving effective and Tigers couldn't get going in their sixth. Hirano made first on a messed up first ground out and was pinch run for Yamato. However, Shibata lined out to first which also took out Yamato to end the innings.

Fukuhara pitched Oakland's seventh and was better than the day before only needing 13 pitches to retire the three batters. With Tigers seventh Athletics went with a new pitcher and started to wobble again. De Los Santos started with a single to Toritani. He made second on Arai's ground out and then third on a wild pitch. Sekimoto (replacement third) grounded out to second bringing in Toritani 9-5 Tigers. Finally, Shunsuke (replacement left) grounded out for the third out. Enokida took over for the eighth and struggled with Fujii's calling walking Donaldson (replacement third) with two out. However, nothing came of this as the next batter, Recker struck out. Oakland made another change for the eighth with Carignan taking over. He had as big a nightmare as Ross. It started nicely with Hiyama (pinch hitter) grounding out and Fujii flying out but then Itoh hit to centre. He stole second and made third on a wild pitch. Yamato walked which brought up Shibata who singled to centre bringing in a run 10-5 Tigers runners on first and third. Next was Kurose (replacement short) who walked to load the bases. Then Ryota Arai (replacement first) singled nicely to right bringing in two runs 12-5 Tigers, This was the end of Carignan who was replaced by Schlichting. Sekimoto walked to load the bases again but Shunsuke couldn't add to the run total and grounded out to first to end the innings. Watanabe took over for Athletics ninth and with one out gave up a single to Cowgill. A wild pitch took Cowgill to second but Sogard flew out. Timmons (replacement second) singled to bring the runner home 12-6 Tigers, runner on first but this was the last flurry of a beaten side as Rosales (replacement left) flew out to end the game. Tigers victory.

A comprehensive victory which would have been even greater with a different catcher. Oakland after their impressive performance of the night before had struggled against Tigers. Tigers bats had been superior and Oaklands errors had cost them dearly. Tigers scored at will and showed an aggressive team spirit. If they can play with this spirit and start Komiyama as catcher the season looks a lot more promising than it did at the beginning of the open sen.