April 17th Messenger v Roman - A win makes all the difference

Messenger's first start against the Swallows had been a disaster - he didn't communicate with his catcher and gave up five runs. His second was much better but still had some issues but he was able to go seven innings. This one was superb, dominant and controlled a complete game shut-out on just 100 pitches. Brazell and Murton supplied the runs making it a good night for Tigers American contingent. It's good to see Messenger back to his best form as well and working so well with Komiyama. Fujii it is nice to hear has no further damage beyond the fractured cheekbone. However, it is not known how long it will take before he's ready to catch again and there will be issues with wearing a mask that need to be addressed. Talk was of Tigers making a trade for another catcher but one hopes this idea is stillborn. Komiyama is progressing well and at 26 gives the Tigers the chance to develop young talent. Furthermore, to get an experienced catcher Tigers would have to give up a very good player and this would weaken the team significantly. A trade is a stupid idea and based on a fallacious notion that a catcher needs to be above the age of 30 to be effective. Let's hope that someone realises this. Scores

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

Starting Lineups

Swallows
1. Ueda (Centre)
2. Tanaka (Second)
3. Milledge (Left)
4. Hatakeyama (First)
5. Kawabata (Short)
6. Miyamoto (Third)
7. Balentien (Right)
8. Nakamura (Catcher)
9. Roman (Pitcher)

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. Messenger (Pitcher)

Messenger started with a bang striking out Ueda looking before motoring though the next two batters in three pitches. Roman struggled as he would throughout the game. Hirano led off Tigers first with a single on what would be a good night for him. Hatakeyama failed to take the throw and HIrano made second on the error. Shibata then bunted him to third but from then on Tigers struggled to bring him home. Toritani did draw a walk but Arai popped one up to second. Then Brazell grounded out to second to end the innings. Messenger started Swallows second well striking out Hatakeyama looking but then ran into trouble as Kawabata drove a two base hit to left. With no out this looked challenging but Miyamoto struck out and then Balentien was walked, Komiyama figuring that it would be easier to get Nakamura. So it proved, the Swallows catcher drove the ball to Hirano who took a nice catch to end the innings. Tigers second was Roman's best innings with the three batters failing to make base. The Swallows third saw another lead off batter strike out looking, this time the victim being Roman. Ueda added a strike out swinging to his collection and Tanaka flew out. HIrano singled to centre in Tigers third with one out and moved to second on Shibata's ground out but Toritani drove the ball to Kawabata and lined out. Still no score.

Swallows clean up found the fourth unpalatable and both Milledge and Hatakeyama went for their first pitches, both falling. Kawabata stayed around a little longer but then succumbed by grounding out to Arai. Finally, in their fourth Tigers capitalized on this pitching performance. Arai singled left and a balk took him to second which brought up Brazell. He swung and got enough bat on his second pitch to just propel it over the left fence for a two run home run 2-0 Tigers. It literally just made it but it counted. Murton singled right but Kanemoto flew out. Another balk took Murton to second but neither Komiyama who did move Murton round to third nor Messenger brought him home. Still Tigers were in the lead. Tigers needed to hold the lead and Messenger did this very effectively in the Swallows fifth. True Balentien did have a one out single but he didn't get beyond first and the innings was scoreless. Hirano led off Tigers fifth by grounding out for a change but with Shibata gone Toritanni walked. Arai struck out looking on what was a quiet night for him. Swallows sixth saw them still struggling to deal with Messenger - they just could not hit him and like Tigers do when a pitcher frustrates them, they swung too early and fell to unwise shots. Brazell flew out to start Tigers sixth but then Murton hit a two base to right centre. Kanemoto went deep but his fly out did take Murton to third. Komiyama was deliberately walked to get at Messenger who grounded out to end the innings. This was the end of Roman's session - he had thrown 99 pitches over six innings and hadn't really gotten a hold of the game.

Messenger continued dominant Kawabata did work the count full in Swallows seventh but once again Messenger exited the innings with no base runners. Hidaka took over the pitching for Tigers seventh and gave up a lead off single to Hirano. Shibata laid down the obligatory wasted bunt to take him to second but then Hidaka walked Toritani. Arai hit to Tanaka who failed to gather allowing Tigers to load the bases on the error. Brazell struck out swinging and Swallows could begin to hope that they had weathered the worst. However, Murton drove his first pitch into centre for a two run timely single 4-0 Tigers, Arai tried to go for third but was run down on the base path. It's nice to see this enterprise though. Swallows did need to pull a rabbit out of the hat and to their credit they did try. Balentien led off with a single but Morioka (pinch hitter) flew out. Takai (pinch hitter) also singled to set up runners on first and second. Messenger was up to the challenge and the next batter Iihara (pinch hitter) was induced to hit the ball back to Messenger. He spun and threw to second for the double play and the end of the innings. The Tigers eighth was pitched by Tigers reject of last season, Abe. He retired the bottom of Tigers order striking out Messenger who was going for the shutout. This proved to be straight forward enough Messenger finishing up Swallows ninth by striking out Hatakeyama - a classic finish. Tigers victory.

Messenger had only really had difficulty in the Swallows eighth and he had handled the challenge very well. He had pitched economically and given up four hits with one walk which was deliberate. Both Murton and Hirano had had good games with three hits apiece and Brazell had scored the vital runs. A nice victory for the Tigers.