July 7th Nohmi v Sugiuchi - Wada is strange

The big question this game was why Wada felt it necessary to replace Yamato with Hiyama in the eighth innings. Yamato with 18 RBIs and one already this game with a propensity to hit with a lot of runners or Hiyama with 2 who is more likely to single with base runners than drive in runs. The decision was strange and as Hiyama hit into a double play to extinguish Tigers last chance to win the game one wonders if Wada actually wants to win. That said this game was a thriller, two poor pitchers and the score seesawing between the two teams. A very satisfactory way to spend a wet Saturday night - well not quite if you're a Tigers fan. Scores

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Tigers  0 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 12 1
Giants  1 2 0 0 3 0 1 0 X 7 11 0

Starting lineups

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

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

With no Kanemoto or Brazell this enforced lineup worked well. However, Nohmi didn't pitch well and Imanari wasn't the best catcher by a long way. In fact in many ways he was very poor - certainly not up to Komiyama's level. However, to some extent he made up with it in other ways. Tigers first gave no indication of how the game was going to go. Sugiuchi got Murton to fly out and Hirano to ground out to short. Then Toritani grounded out to Sugiuchi. Nohmi started well striking out Chono looking and then went to pieces. Tani singled to centre and Sakamoto hit a two base to left - runnners on second and third. Murata picked up a dead ball on his leg to load the bases. It looked as if Nohmi was going to be as bad as Messenger the day before. Abe hit his first pitch into left - not deep but Tani tagged up and was able to slide home 1-0 Giants, runners on first and second. A wild pitch by Nohmi took the runners to second and third and here Imanari demonstrated that he also had trouble with the ground balls. Takahashi walked as Nohmi was all over the place but then Edgar swung just that bit too far and struck out swinging to end the innings. Not quite the disaster that Messenger had created. Sugiuchi then engineered a Giants disaster. Takahiro Arai hit to third where Murata stopped but couldn't throw in time. Then Ryota Arai also singled to third - hitting along the line. Murata made a fine diving stop but couldn't throw and Tigers had runners on first and second with no outs. Sekimoto was next and as he did so Wada signalled the double steal. Abe took the pitch and fired the ball to third where the tag was a formality. Two outs and Ryota Arai on second. It looked as if Tigers had blown their chance. Yamato thought differently and hit deep and over Tani for a timely three base hit 1-1 scores tied. Imanari was next and we saw why he is in the team. He took a high pitch right for a timely single 2-1 Tigers, runner on first. Sugiuchi by now was throwing garbage. Nohim hit to right where the ball bounced fair and rolled away into the corner. Imanari tore round the bases and slid in to just beat the tag - a fine piece of running and 3-1 Tigers, runner on second. The overhead replay showed clearly that his foot touched home before Abe could apply the tag and it was a good call. Murton was next and he struck out looking. He thought it was an example of a Giants zone and said things to the umpire. The umpire then could be seen moaning about it to the Tigers coaches. For what it is worth - it looked a perfectly legitimate call to me. More replays here would have helped though. So with Tigers ahead could Nohmi hold the lead. The answer was definitely not. He was too high in the Giants second and paid for it. It wasn't as if Imanari was calling high; he wasn't. It was just poor pitching by Nohmi. First was Terauchi who led off hitting a high pitch just over the fence for a solo home run 3-2 Tigers. Sugiuchi eventually struck out but then Chono got another patent high pitch and really smashed this one high into the left stand for another solo home run 3-3 scores tied. Tani hit a grounder to short and then Sakamoto lined out to Toritani to end the innings. Hirano managed to strike out looking, an inauspicious start to the Tigers third. Toritani grounded out to third and it looked like things were heading towards a quiet innings when Takahiro Arai hit to left. Once again his brother also hit, this time a two base drive to left and Tigers had runners on first and second. Sekimoto battled and then hit over the glove of Sakamoto bringing in both runners 5-3 Tigers. He managed to take second as well beating the throw from Abe. The final batter was Yamato who this time swung too soon and flew out to first to end the innings. But Tigers had reestablished the lead. Giants third saw Nohmi move into a good period of play. He worked effectively with Imanari and retired the Giants batters with ease. Tigers looked to be in control.

They didn't do much in the fourth though. Sugiuchi struck out all three batters he faced. Imanari, Nohmi and Murton to keep the margin at just two runs. The Giants fourth was a curate's egg. Edgar led off with a single to centre off a poor pitch from Nohmi. Terauchi then struck out swinging to a nice pitch. Edgar tried to steal second and was thrown out very effectively by Imanari. Then with the count at 1-2 Kajimae (pinch hitter) swung wildly at a changeup. This was also wild and Imanari let it escape from him and Kajimae reached first safely. Shades of Komiyama against the Carp but without the runs. However, Chono also obligingly struck out swinging so no damaged resulted from this incident. Takagi took over for Tigers fifth and got Hirano to fly out to centre. Then Toritani was persuaded to line out to first and Takahiro Arai to fly out to right. A good innings for the Giants. Wada continued with Nohmi and whilst he wasn't good to some extent he wasn't totally responsible for the mess that followed. Tani led the innings off with a single to left. Sakamot then hit a two base to left centre - he was over-extended and was pretty lucky to make the shot but it landed perfectly and rolled away allowing Giants to put runners on first and second. Murata hit to Hirano who instead of going for the out threw to Imanari at home to get Tani who was running in. This would have worked except that the throw was really wild and to add insult to injury bounce off Tani to role away to first foul ground. This allowed Sakamoto to reach home as well 5-5 scores tied, runner on second. Murata had also taken advantage of the error. Another poor piece of work by Hirano. All of this was with no outs and so Abe hit deep to right and Murata tagged up and made third. Murton did take and throw to third but the throw drifited and Sekimoto was nowhere near base when he took it. Then Takahashi hit his second pitch into right where Murton took it and didn't even bother to try to throw. There was no point - he could not have stopped Murata reaching home 6-5 Giants. The game had turned around. Edgar hit towards third but was out. Fukuda took over from Takagi for Tigers sixth. He got Ryota Arai to ground out to short before things went wrong. Sekimoto singled to left and then Yamato hit into centre to set up runners on first and third with some nice running by Sekimoto. Fukuda got a tongue lashing from the Giants pitching coach over this - nerves were tight on the Giants bench. He faced Imanari who managed to hit straight to second for the innings ending double play. Fukuda looked very pleased about this. Watanabe took over for Giants sixth and got Terauchi to fly out. Inzen (pinch hitter) grounded out to first, Watanabe applying the tag and then Chono struck out looking. A beautiful outside slider that had the Giants batter completely fooled.

Tigers seventh was strangely subdued. Yamaguchi was the pitching and he got Asai (pinch hitter) to ground out to third. Murton struck out swinging and Hirano hit his first pitch to Edgar to end the innings. Giants seventh was not subued - Tsutsui was the pitcher and he got into a total mess with Imanari, his own pitching and was generally hopeless. Tani hit the first pitch to centre. He was pinch run for by Suzuki who tried to steal second. The throw from Imanari was poor and almost resulted in Suzuki taking third. Sakamoto went to bunt and exceeded beyond the wildest dreams putting the ball neatly between the pitcher and first and out of the reach of the former. Hirano was standing back as no one was expecting Sakamoto to bunt and it was a smart piece of work by the Giants. Runners on first and third with no outs. Murata struck out swinging and as he did so Sakamoto stole second - Tigers were in trouble. Abe walked to load the bases and you wondered why hadn't Tsutsui been replaced earlier or even now. Then Takahashi singled right bringing in a run 7-5 Giants, bases loaded. Edgar struck out looking - he too complained. It looked to be something along the lines of - Hey, I'm a Giant. However, the plate umpire was unmoved and Giants seventh was over. Still a good innings for the Giants and not for the Tigers. Yamaguchi struck out Toritani to start the Tigers eighth and was then replaced by Nishmura who got into trouble. Takahiro Arai hit nicely to right. Then Ryota Arai singled left to set up runners on first and second. Then Sekimoto worked the count full and walked to load the bases. Giants were in trouble. Here we saw Wada's strange decision. Yamato is good in these situations, Hiyama isn't so why was Hiyama used? One can only think that Wada wanted to give the honour of driving in the run to the veteran Hiyama. Yamato would be the one most likely to hit in this situation. Anyway Hiyama hit to short where Sakamoto took the ball and threw backhanded to second who relayed to third for the innings ending double play. Wada looked like he had been suckiing lemons at that - he had been a complete lemon with an unnecessary change. There is no guarantee that Yamato would have driven in runs but he had more chance than Hiyama. Typical poor management from Wada. Futagami pitched Giants eighth. He gave up a lead off single to Yano (replacement left). Chono though hit to Toritani for a straightforward double play and there were two outs. Suzuki then grounded out to short to end the innings. Mathieson took over for Tigers ninth. He struck out Imanari getting him to swing at a high pitch. Brazell (pinch hitter) went the same way in three pitches and then Murton hit into foul ground but Chono running round took a good catch to end the game. Giants victory.

Tigers lost the series and their fifth in a row. They really do struggle with away games. Once again double digit hits and a loss though the run count was higher this time. The game had been winnable but Tigers mistakes had cost them. The throw by Hirano and the mess by Wada over the use of Hiyama come to mind. Imanari hadn't exactly impressed behind the plate but it is actually good to see him and Komiyama getting more chances to call. Komiyama is the better catcher though and Imanari the work in progress. Tigers have one more game against Giants on Sunday and will be looking to salvage some pride after this good performance was wasted.