April 25th Kubo v Ohtake - A big difference

Once you take out Carp's ace pitcher from the equation they do become more beatable. Ohtake had made a good start to the season but has slipped lately. Talking of which his inadvertent victim Fujii is thinking about returning to duty early May. Far too soon one would have thought though he was the only one who seemed to get on with Standridge. Kubo did well but tired rapidly in the seventh whilst Ohtake was never on top of his game and had to be replaced in the fifth. Once again Egusa didn't seem to be able to deal with his old team. Carp lacked the firepower to drive in the runners on their one chance and Komiyama steered the pitchers well. Scores

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

Starting lineups

Carp
1. Soyogi (Short)
2. Higashide (Second)
3. Maru (Centre)
4. Stavinoha (Left)
5. Hirose (Right)
6. Matsuyama (First)
7. Dobayashi (Third)
8. Shirahama (Catcher)
9. Ohtake (Pitcher)

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

First pitch, first hit - Soyogi singled to centre in what would be Carp's only hit until the seventh. The underperforming Higashide flew out to short, followed by Maru. Finally, Stavinoha flew out to right. Soyogi hadn't moved off first. Ohtake's start was better but this was the only good piece of news he could take from the innings. Murton grounded out. Hirano who was Wada's MVP singled to centre. Then Ohtake walked Toritani. Arai hit a grounder to third which forced out Hirano but Arai was sefe. Next came Brazell who drove a shuto to right bringing in Toritani 1-0 Tigers runners on first and third. Kanemoto also hit right to bring in Arai 2-0 Tigers, runners on first and second. Shibata hit to first for the final out. Tigers had a nice start to the game. Carp's nightmare began in the second - no one could get on base and Kubo struck Hirose out very sweetly. Ohtake was much better in Tigers second though he did face the bottom of the order. Still Murton was having a quiet night and he grounded out to second. More Carp fell in the third with Kubo enjoying himself. Once again Hirano singled, this time leading off the third. Toritani swung and struck out and then Arai hit into a double play - another one having a quiet night.

Carp's fourth was quiet with Stavinoha striking out to end the innings. Brazell and Kanemoto fell in Tigers fourth before Shibata walked. Komiyama singled left putting runners on first and second but with Kubo next it was unlikely that Tigers would score and so it proved. Kubo grounded out to first but Ohtake had been really building up the pitches. Carp's fifth saw two more strike outs Kubo showing nice variation in employing a straight and fork to get his victims. Tiger fifth started with a bang or rather a three base to left centre from Murton who suddenly woke up. Hirano singled to centre for his third hit bringing in the run 3-0 Tigers, runner on first. Toritani also singled to move Hirano round to third and whilst Carp were focused on trying to get the latter out took second himself. Hirano was safe and Tigers had both runners in scoring positions with no outs. Arai struck out to a straight outside pitch - he falls a lot to these. Ohtake then balked - a fatal slip in this situation. Hirano was home and Toritani on third 4-0 Tigers Nomura judged that it was time to replace Ohtake. Fair enough, the starter had struggled but maybe Egusa wasn't the best choice against his old team. He walked Brazell and then Kanemoto to load the bases. Johjima (pinch hitter) hit deep to right for the sacrifice fly 5-0 Tigers. Finally, with runners on first and third Komiyama grounded out to first. Kubo then protected the lead very nicely and once again Carp failed to get a runner on base. Kishimoto took the bottom of the sixth. Not exactly inspiring but good enough to avoid a run. Kishimoto did walk Hirano and Toritani in succession but then an Arai liner to short ended the innings.

Higashide led off Carp's seventh and took a dead ball for his first pitch - very much a sign that Kubo was tiring. Maru and Stavinoha flew out and then Kubo walked Hirose. Matsuyama hit to second where Hirano made a fine stop but couldn't get the throw away in time and Carp had loaded the bases. Crunch point for Carp with their hero of the night before facing a tiring pitcher. This time there was no fairytale and Dobayashi struck out swinging to a forkball to end the innings. Nice pitching by Kubo. Tigers seventh was pitched by Imamura. He gave up a lead off single to Brazell. However, Kanemoto hit into a double play. Then Yamato (replacement centre) grounded out - no score there. Enokida pitched Carp's eighth and was a lot more confident retiring the batters in order. The final Carp pitcher was Nakamura. He started the Tigers eighth with a single to Komiyama who then got himself picked off. Sekimoto (pinch hitter) walked but then Murton hit into the double play. It was nice to see Cheng pitching Carp's ninth. He lost the plot with one out and walked Maru but then retired the next two batters finishing with a strike out. Tigers victory.

A very nice victory founded on competent work by the whole team. Pitching, batting and catching were all good whilst Carp had struggled. Kubo picked up his second win and it was nice to see Komiyama connecting. Arai had had an off day but others had come through and Carp had made the mistakes. Tigers had punished them for it.