August 1st Kubo v Muranaka - A disappearing phenomenon

This game saw the return of that rare thing a Tigers series victory and in a tight game as well. We actually saw a Fujikawa save as well (and there haven't been too many of those this season). Swallows whilst not being abject were not competent enough to win this one and Tigers now have a three game winning streak. Takahiro Arai is hitting again and that in itself is a good thing. All in all a good result. Scores

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

Starting lineups

Swallows
1. Tanaka (Second)
2. Miwa (Right)
3. Kawabata (Third)
4. Hatakeyama (First)
5. Milledge (Centre)
6. Matsui (Left)
7. Morioka (Short)
8. Kawamoto (Catcher)
9. Muranaka (Pitcher)

Tigers
1. Uemoto (Second)
2. Yamato (Centre)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Takahiro Arai (First)
5. Kanemoto (Left)
6. Murton (Right)
7. Ryota Arai (Third)
8. Fujii (Catcher)
9. Kubo (Pitcher)

Muranaka was coming off a massive drubbing by the Carp and you have to pitch really badly to have one of those so the question was how would he do in this start? He wasn't as bad but didn't handle the start of the game that well. Kubo did rather well. True Tanaka started with a single and was bunted to second by Miwa in a wasted out. Kawabata grounded out to second taking Tanaka to third but Hatakeyama managed to ground out to third. Tigers start was dramatic, Uemoto; who was taking over from Hirano hitting a double in his first at bat. Pointlessly, Yamato was required to bunt him to third and then Toritani singled bringing in the run 1-0 Tigers, runner on first. Uemoto has the speed to get round two bases so the bunt was a waste of an out. Takahiro Arai hit his first pitch into right centre for a timely double, Toritani making home safely 2-0 Tigers. Kanemoto grounded out to second and Murton then hit to short to end the innings. Tigers had a two run lead. Swallows didn't do anything in their second apart from having Morioka single with two out. He stayed on first for the final out. Ryota Arai led off Tigers second with a walk. Fujii managed to ground out to third which took Ryota Arai to second and then he was bunted to third by Kubo, possibly the first sensible bunt of the evening. Uemoto walked and then stole second - he was having a good game but Yamato flew out trying to hit right and no score resulted. Swallows still couldn't get going, their third saw Tanaka's second single, this one to Kubo with one out but once again he stayed on first and the innings ended scoreless. Toritani grounded out to lead off Tigers third. Then Takahiro Arai hit his second double of the night. Kanemoto could only ground out but this did take Arai to third. Murton supplied the timely single up the centre 3-0 Tigers, runner on first. Ryota Arai struck out to end the innings.

So far Kubo had been relatively unchallenged and this continued in the Swallows fourth for the first two outs. Then Matsui doubled to right centre. Morioka took a dead ball and things began to look threatening. Kawamoto could only ground out and the Swallows missed the chance. Fujii led off Tigers fourth with a single and he waddled to first. He was bunted to second by Kubo but Uemoto lined out. Yamato struck out looking and the innings was over. Swallows fifth and they finally managed to put runs on the board. With one out Tanaka hit to Toritani who made a mess allowing the Swallows lead off to reach first safely. Miwa flew out to centre for the second out. Kawabata, though, hit the ball hard and over the right oendan fence for a two run home run 3-2 Tigers and a poor pitch. Hatakeyama managed to fly out to left and Tigers retained the slenderest of leads. Their fifth was quiet - Kanemoto did single with two out but nothing came of this with Murton flying out to centre. Kubo struck out two in Swallows sixth which effectively ended any chance of a further counter attack and the final batter Morioka grounded out tamely to Kubo. Ryota Arai singled to third in Tigers sixth with Kawabata being unable to get the throw away in time. Fujii grounded out to second wisely eschewing the bunt and this took Ryota to second. Kubo struck out swinging and Uemoto flew out to end the innings.

Swallows seventh was very quiet - Kubo retired the batters in order yet again and finished his session with the lead intact. Yamamoto took over from Muranaka for Tigers seventh and struggled a bit. With one out he walked Toritani. Arai struck out but Kanemoto singled putting runners on the corners. Murton managed to ground out to second to end the innings. The replacement for Kubo to pitch Swallows eighth was Tsutsui who got the first two outs and then was replaced by Fukuhara for the final out. This was Hatakeyama who grounded out to short. Tigers eighth was pitched by Masabuchi who was much better than the night before. He struck out all three batters he faced, Ryota Arai swinging, Fujii looking and Brazell (pinch hitter) swinging. Fujikawa took over for Swallows ninth and didn't have it all his own way. Milledge struck out swinging and Matsui flew out to right; ato hitori. Then things started to drift, Morioka singled left and was pinch run for by Hiyane. The next batter was Fujimoto (pinch hitter) and he hit into right field. Murton's throw was good and Hiyane was tagged out trying for third to end the game. Tigers victory.

A good workmanlike performance by Kubo. He had managed to hold the lead despite the home run and pitched seven innings on 106 pitches. Uemoto had started well and both Toritani and Takahiro Arai did very well. Tigers could be happy with this win but the winning streak may well stop at this point as Swallows will probably avoid being swept.