April 12th Andoh v Kenta Maeda - Shattered dreams

Hiroshima had hoped to pick up one of the first two games and then have Maeda win the series for them. Failing that they would take the third consolation game but it didn't work out that way and they do need to take a serious look at their championship pretensions. Tigers mastered the conditions better and with better catching walked away with a comfortable series victory and no losses. Carp lacked power when needed and their lightweight batting order is going to struggle against the more powerful sides as the season progresses. Wada adopted a bold tactic in the seventh which paid dividends because he already had runners on base when he changed his catcher and pitcher. Andoh was good for another innings but was replaced by Sekimoto. Tigers managed though to walk away with the tie - a very useful result. Scores

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

Starting lineups

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

Carp
1. Higashide (Second)
2. Soyogi (Short)
3. Matsuyama (Left)
4. Kurihara (First)
5. Aizawa (Right)
6. Maru (Centre)
7. Dobayashi (Third)
8. Kura (Catcher)
9. Kenta Maeda (Pitcher)

Maeda would have trouble with the first batter in most of the innings he pitched but have enough to survive until the seventh. In Tigers first he gave up a centre hit to Hirano. Hirano would be picked up and Shibata and Toritani would get out easily. Andoh retired the batters in order in the Carp's first. His pitching would be vital in ensuring that Tigers didn't lose the game. Arai led off Tigers second with a walk but Brazell struck out. Murton was next and he hit into a double play. Kurihara walked to start Carp's second and Maru's one out ground out took him to second. Things were set for the third out but the only Carp player to have impressed during this series, Dobayashi hit left to bring in Kurihara 1-0 Carp. A throwing error took Dobayashi to second but Kura flew out to right to end the innings. Tigers third saw Komiyama pick up a dead ball with one out. Andoh tried to bunt but failed in three attempts and was out. Hirano hit nicely to centre to put runners on first and third which left it all up to Shibata who struck out swinging. Maeda was more than able to handle any trouble he might have. Maeda then led off Carp's third hitting to Toritani who messed up and allowed the pitcher onto base. Higashide grounded out but Soyogi singled to put runners on the corners. With one out things were dangerous but Matsuyama's fly out was too shallow to score a run. Kurihara - Carp's only danger man was walked to load the bases and then Andoh struck out Aizawa to end the danger.

Toritani singled to left to start Tigers fourth but one out later was extinguished in a Brazell double play. Carp couldn't even get a runner on base and their fourth to sixth saw some of Andoh's best pitching. Tigers fifth saw noone reaching base either and things remained at a 1-0 lead to the home team. The Carp's fifth passed quickly but Andoh led off Tigers sixth with a single. He was forced out by Hirano who was bunted to second by Shibata. This was a useless waste of an out as usual because Maeda was able to deal with Toritani by striking him out looking. Carp tried to hit out in the sixth but had no room for manoeuvre and were rapidly despatched.

Tigers seventh looked straightforward for two outs but then Maeda ran into trouble and couldn't get out of it unscathed. Murton singled and then Kanemoto hit right to put runners on first and second. Here Wada made the brave move of replacing his catcher with Hiyama. Hiyama's first pitch was driven into centre for a timely single 1-1. Then Andoh who could have pitched Carp's seventh was replaced by Sekimoto. He struck out but Tigers had managed to tie the game. Tsutsui took over for Carp's seventh and because Komiyama had been replaced found himself pitching to Okazaki. He started by giving up a single to Maru. Dobayashi bunted Maru to second and then Kura flew out. For some reason Okazaki felt it necessary to walk Hirose (pinch hitter) though why escapes me. Anyway Higashide flew out to centre to end the innings. Egusa took over for Tigers eighth and with one out walked Shibata. He then got Toritani to ground out to second forcing out Shibata. This was enough of Egusa who was replaced by Mickolio. He walked Arai (understandable) and then Brazell flew out to left. Watanabe pitched Carp's eighth and smoothly retired all three batters he faced. Sarfate took over for Tigers ninth and he is one pitcher the Tigers batters have not figured out how to deal with yet. He got all three batters - two flying out and the final one - Okazaki- striking out swinging. Enokida pitched Carp's ninth ane with two ground outs gave up a two base hit to Dobayashi. Carp began to get hopeful but Kura drove his first pitch straight back to Enokida for the final out.

Tigers tenth was disappointing with Sarfate in control. For Carp's tenth Fujikawa took the mound. He has been iffy scaring all of Tigers catchers with his pitching. Okazaki would be the latest recipient of this treatment. Hirose struck out swinging but Higashide of all people singled. Then Soyogi fouled his first pitch into the glove of Okazaki. Things looked good but Fujikawa gave up consecutive singles to left to Matsuyama and Kurihara to load the bases. Things looked very dangerous but luckily Fujikawa had an extra gear and struck out Aizawa to end the game. Tied game.

A very good result against some fine pitching. Tigers had stuck to their task and come away with a tie and a comfortably won series. Wada's bold move had worked very well and luckily Okazaki had not messed up things. Carp meanwhile need to go back to the drawing board. They need much more power to have a chance of the pennant.