April 28th Nohmi v Sugiuchi - Nohmi fluffs it

Tigers have traded their pitcher Wakatake for Fighters catcher Imanari. This has to be regarded as a future move as Imanari has very little top team experience. It also suggests that Fujii's contract will not be extended beyond its second year. Asai has also been catching in ni-gun again. Obviously, Tigers feel that Komiyama does need back up and that Okazaki is not really suitable. For Komiyama, the issue has been batting not calling. However, Tigers generally are underperforming with the bat and this may be down to Wada who was a 'small ball' batter. It is always more difficult to string together a series of hits than use power to produce runs. Working with Komiyama will improve his batting which anyway has been showing signs of getting better. The possible answer is to bring back Kanoh into the catching frame. One can't escape that conlcusion though, that Tigers management have made an absolute dogs dinner of their catching and are very lucky to have someone as talented as Komiyama. Onto the game, Nohmi messed it up and Giants had a huge slice of luck but overall showed more aggression and spirit than Tigers. Kanemoto at fifth was not a success despite him driving in a run and hitting. He needed to hit with more power and singles are all very well but not much use if the opposition are six runs up. Incidentally we also saw another stupid bunt - this one from the Giants. Why are you bunting when you are six runs up as Terauchi did for the Giants in the top of the sixth? Scores

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

Starting lineups

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

Giants
1. Chono (Centre)
2. Terauchi (Second)
3. Sakamoto (Short)
4. Abe (Catcher)
5. Murata (Third)
6. Takahashi (First)
7. Bowker (Left)
8, Kajimae (Right)
9. Sugiuchi (Pitcher)

Things started brightly for Tigers - Sugiuchi was nervous and Murton took full advantage of this singling to left. He reached second when Hirano hit a grounder to second. Then Toritani walked and Tigers were in a very interesting situation. Arai, though, is not batting well at the moment and even though his flyout to right took Murton to third it wasn't really enough. Kanemoto was next and he drove into right - a timely single 1-0 Tigers runners on first and third. Brazell is another one who is finding scoring difficult and he struck out swinging. Still Tigers had the lead. Nohmi has the reputation of being a Giants killer but for some reason he didn't pitch like that at all. He was frequently too high with his pitches and the Giants were able to take advantage of this. Chono led the innings off with a two base hit. Terauchi who was ineffective throughout the game struck out swinging being lured too far and failint to check his swing in time. Sakamoto though singled left but not far enough for the run to score - runners on first and third. Nohmi walked Abe to load the bases - things weren't looking good for Tigers but the double play was a possiblity. Komiyama called for an inside pitch but Nohmi's pitch was way to wild bouncing in front of the plate and zipping past the helpless Komiyama. Of course the runner at third was home 1-1 scores tied and runners on second and third. Nohmi managed to strike out Murata for the second out and now Tigers could see a chance of getting out of the innings. The likelihood was that Takahashi would ground out and so it proved but....Takahashi hit the ball straight back at Nohmi. It hit his leg but he picked up fumbled, dropped the ball but picked up again and still had time to throw to Brazell for the out. Instead his underarm throw looped well over Brazell into foul ground. Brazell had to chase after it and by the time he recovered the ball two runners were home and Takahashi was safe on second 3-1 Giants and a very bad mistake by Nohmi. Nohmi then walked Bowker before striking out Kajimae looking to end the innings. Nohmi had literally thrown the lead away. Sugiuchi was much better in Tigers second - he was facing the bottom of the order but Yamato should have left his first pitch. Komiyama did better but struck out to a fine pitch and Nohmi grounded out to second. Giants second was also quiet with Terauchi deciding he could bunt his way to first and being out on the three bunt rule - one has to say his batting was particularly stupid. Tigers third saw the top of the order trying to hit deep and flying out. One was surprised to see Nohmi back for Giants third - from the TV it was obvious he was a disaster in the making. He started by getting Sakamoto to fly out and then Abe hit to centre. Murata was next and he stroked the ball into left centre for a two base hit - runners on second and third. Up came Takahashi who swung and in an incredible fluke bounced the ball just inside the first base line. The ball bounced infield up over Brazell who had no chance and continued parallel with the baseline to Murton who fielded it. At no time did it roll foul - very lucky but two more runs to the Giants 5-1 Giants, runner on first. Bowker hit right for a two base - it was that kind of night and Giants had runners on second and third. Kajimae tried the sacrifice but didn't go deep enough before Sugiuchi flew out to left.

Now Giants had the bit between the teeth and Tigers were reeling. Sugiuchi smoothly retired the three batters he faced in the Tigers fourth - his strike out of Kanemoto being sublime. Three innings of Nohmi was enough and Cheng took over for the Giants fourth. He was nervous and left a pitch too high facing his first batter, Chono. Chono hit hard and the ball just had the energy to clear the right centre wall for a solo home run 6-1 Giants. Terauchi struck out but Sakamoto singled left. Then Abe singled right to put runners on first and third. Murata hit deep to centre for the sacrifice fly 7-1 Giants with a runner on first. Komiyama was non too pleased with Cheng for that pitch. Finally Takahashi flew out to Toritani at short. Yamato led off Tigers fifth with a single and stole second on Komiyama's second strikeout of the night, Abe being rather slow to respond. Johjima (replacement first) grounded out and then Murton struck out looking to another fine piece of pitching by Sugiuchi. Perhaps surprisngly, Cheng returned for Giants fifth but was much better retiring the batters in order and looking quite nice. I do like his stuff and do feel he will be a fine reliever. Sugiuchi walked Toritani with one out in Tigers sixth but then Arai hit the ball back to the pitcher who threw to second for an easy double play. Arai does not look like he is batting well at all. Cheng though still as a lot to learn and started the Giants sixth by walking Chono. Here we had the stupid bunt - but what was Terauchi still doing on the field anyway? Still you could relax slightly, Giants weren't going to score. Sakamoto was next and obviously enjoying himself singled left to set up runners on first and third. Abe was induced to fly out to short and then Murata grounded out to third - nice pitching by Cheng to get himself out of the bind.

Tigers seventh was Sugiuchi's last innings - he was obviously tired and very near his limit. Kanemoto led off with a single to centre. Ryota Arai (pinch hitter) singled left and Tigers had runners on first and second. Yamato grounded out to third forcing out Ryota Arai but making first hmself with Kanemoto on third. Here Wada went with Sekimoto as a pinch hitter for Komiyama. Sekimoto hit his first pitch to right bringing in the run 7-2 Giants. Johjima swung too soon and flew out to short and finally Murton hit deep to left where Bowker took the catch. Tigers hadn't exactly done well - just one run but all credit to Sugiuchi who had held on well. Watanabe took over the pitching duties for Giants seventh and it was interesting to note that he was basically ignoring Okazaki's calls (Okazaki being the replacement catcher) and pitching what he wanted. He retired the batters in order with a nice display of pitching. Tigers really do need suitable cover for Komiyama but Giants had rather taken their foot off the pedal. Yamaguchi pitched Tigers eighth. Things went well until he reached Arai who suddenly single to right. Then Kanemoto hit the ball at Yamaguchi - he failed to take and deflected it to short where Sakamoto was too slow and Tigers had runners on first and second.. Shunsuke (pinch hitter) though grounded out to end the innings. Tsuru pitched the Giants eighth and he followed Okazaki's calls which meant that he had a difficult innings. Ogasawara (pinch hitter) walked and was pinch run for by Suzuki. Chono flew out but Suzuki stole second. However, Kamei (pinch hitter) flew out to left and then Sakamoto grounded out to third. The pitcher for Tigers ninth was Mathieson probably on the grounds that Tigers had never seen him before. He started by giving up a single to centre to the Tigers lead off Shibata (pinch hitter). Shibata stole second but then the next three batters all did nothing with Okazaki striking out, Johjima swinging too soon again and flying out to Sakamoto and finally Murton grounding out to first to end the game. Giants victory.

Two runs from nine hits isn't really a good exchange but Giants also struggled to convert a lot ot their hits into runs. Nohmi had really lost the game for the Tigers in the first and hadn't performed well at all. Sugiuchi whilst not being at his best had kept the Tigers under control and (I hate to say it) fully deserved his hero interview. Tigers do need to do something about their batting though. It is not just Komiyama but everyone who is failing to produce. Toritani, Shibata, Brazell and Murton are all hitting under what they should be. Even Arai is affected and is slowing down. Tigers have good pitching but they do need to use their power more frequently against stronger opposition than the abject BayStars as well. A look at the batting coaching is now needed as a matter of urgency.