April 30th Messenger v Sawamura - No separation

Well Tigers didn't loose but they couldn't win either. Still this tight fought game showed everything except the batting off to advantage. There was a lot of nice fielding and pitching and Messenger hung in there well. Enokida got himself into a mess but with Komiyama's help got out of it. No sacrifice fly this time - when he struck out the first batter he was ready to celebrate but Komiyama brought him back down to earth - just one. It was nice work by the Tigers catcher. Scores (none)

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 R H E
Tigers  0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  0  0 0 3 0
Gianrts 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  0  0 0 5 0

Starting lineups

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

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

A real pitching duel - this started with Murton lining out to second. Hirano worked a walk but was forced out by Toritani's ground out. Arai hit to first and was nicely caught by Ogasawara to end the innings. Messenger got into all sorts of problems in Giants first. With Chono striking out looking Fujimura attempted the bunt to third. This came off, the throw was just behind the runner. Sakamoto took a swing and hit a nice to base to left - runners on second and third. Not for the first time would the Giants fail to convert a runner as Messenger struck out first Abe and then Murata (with a nice high pitch) to end the innings. Tigers second was quiet and the batters all flew out. Bowker singled with one out in Giants second but then stayed on first as the next two batters fell. Tigers third saw two strike out as did Giants third. Both pitchers were throwing some very nice stuff though the question mark with Messenger was how long he would last given his shakey first.

Tigers first hit came in their fourth - a one out single from Toritani. Arai grounded out to Sakamoto who dropped the ball but was in time for the force out with Arai safe on first. Kanemoto though grounded out to first. Giants fourth was quiet with none of the runners reaching base. Messenger would pick up a lot of pitcher ground outs and strike outs. Brazell struck out looking to start Tigers fifth and no one got on base. Giants fifth was also quiet though the final out, Sawamura did need a neat piece of fielding by Hirano. Tigers sixth quiet, Giants sixth quiet - both pitchers were throwing a lot of very good stuff but the batters were also working hard and both were unlikely to last beyond the seventh.

Sawamura was the first to be tested. Toritani led off Tigers seventh with a single to first. He was judged to have beaten Sawamura to first (replays showed that Sawamura had actually touched first just before Toritani). Arai hit nicely to left centre and Toritani rocketed round the bases. Giants throw and relay were accurate allowing Abe to block home and tag out Toritani for the first out. Arai was safe on second and Tigers were still in with a chance. Kanemoto swung and broke his bat in grounding out to first. This took Arai to third which meant that everything was up to Brazell. He was brilliantly struck out by Sawamura though and the Tigers only real chance had been missed. Giants seventh was just as exciting. Messenger because of his struggles in the first had actually thrown quite a bit more than Sawamura and was more vulnerable. Abe waited and worked a lead off walk. Murata then bunted him to second. You really have to question the idiocy of having your number five bunt in this situation - whilst it was a difficult innings the bunt was crucial in the failure of the Giants to score. Takahashi was walked deliberately to set up runners on first and second. Bowker was next and he also walked to load the bases and here Komiyama made it quite clear that he was not pleased with Messenger's pitching. Ogasawara followed and battled Messenger for many pitches before being induced to swing too soon. Komiyama was under it and Tigers had the second out. Ishii (pinch hitter) followed and hit the first pitch he had high to left. Kanemoto was nicely positioned to take the catch and end the innings. Messenger had escaped a dangerous situation and received the grateful thanks of Wada. He had done well. Yamaguchi pitched Tigers eighth and had no issues with the batters. For Giants eighth we saw Tsutsui and he retired the batters in order. With the second out Fujimura hit high into foul ground. Kanemoto raced round to the open seats and leaning over the wall snatched the ball before an eager Giants supporter could get a glove on it - very nice fielding. Sakamoto struck out swinging. Tigers batters could do nothing in their ninth either and they felll in order. Giants ninth saw some great work by Komiyama and also Enokida. He faced Abe first of all and gave up a single to right. Abe was pinch run for by Suzuki - a big mistake as it deprived Giants of power later on. Murata was asked to bunt and he was clearly unhappy about being asked a second time. He tried one bunt, missed and then took a swing which went deep. Murton tried to take it by the fence and missed - to some extent poor fielding, in Giants Tigers contests you must take these. He then fumbled the ball on the ground which allowed Suzkuk to reach third and Murata second. Proof that bunts are mostly a pointless exercise. Giants had no outs and a winning position. Takahashi was walked to load the bases and to get at Bowker. Here Hara made another mistake and switched Bowker for Tani - even though Bowker isn't hitting well I think he would have driven in the run. Tani fought hard but was brilliantly struck out by Enokida on a full count. This is where Komiyama made the signal - just one. Next was Kajimae (pinch hitter) who also battled hard but was induced to fly out to Murton who had come into the infield - no run on there. Sanematsu (pinch hitter and replacement catcher) was next and he swung and popped the ball up to Hirano for the final out. Tigers had escaped a jam. Nice pitching and nice work by Komiyama. Unlike the game the day before any slip up would have meant a Giants victory.

Nishimura pitched Tigers tenth and retired the batters in order. In fact the Tigers batters rather seemed to have given up the fight. Fukuhara faced the top of the Giants order in the bottom of the tenth and got Chono with a brilliant curve. The next two batters grounded out. Tigers big chance to win the game had been in their tenth with the clean up batting. Their lower order wasn't going to present much of an issue but here there was no issue of a pinch hitter for Komiyama. Maybe Wada is learning - a good catcher is too valuable to replace. Tigers eleventh was quiet but the strike out of Komiyama was suspect and one suspects that the ball actually missed the zone. Fujikawa pitched Giants eleventh and having Suzuki batting fourth was cruely exposed. Murata grounded out to short and then Takahashi struck out swinging. Tied game.

Given the opportunities Giants had had they hadn't done very well. Bases loaded situations do need to be converted and this is something that Tigers need to remember as well. It is also important to remember that a good catcher will get you out of difficult situations and Tigers had plenty of these in this game. The pitching had been nice and despite the fact that Tigers hadn't won they hadn't lost and they could be proud of that.