August 19th Nohmi v Muranaka - Madness in the ninth

Tigers it seems want to appoint a General Manager. It will be interesting to see how this goes and how Katsuhiro Nakamura (their candidate) does. He is too positively linked to failure at Tigers (He was their manager back in the 90s - almost six years of failure) and Orix to be welcomed with open arms. More jobs for the boys. Swallows imploded drastically in Tigers ninth innings blowing all their hard work of the previous innings. It means that Tigers now have a 3-2-1 record over the last two series. This is a much better position than before but they still have a lot of work to do. Scores

          1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Tigers    0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 7 12 0
Swallows  0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1  8 2

Starting lineups

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

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

Neither pitcher would start well though Nohmi settled down quicker than Muranaka. He was paired with Fujii for this game. Muranaka didn't start too comfortably and walked Uemoto. Then he dead balled Yamato - runners on first and second with no outs. Toritani struck out and Ryota Arai hit into an inviting double play. It looked to be a typical Tigers evening. Swallows also had their runners on. Milledge led off with a single. He then tried to steal second but of course was an easy victim even for a thrower of Fujii's class. Ueda singled to centre and then Tanaka singled to centre - runners on first and second. Then Nohmi woke up and struck out Hatakeyama and Iihara. Honours were about even. Tigers second and Takahiro Arai singled with one out. Muranaka hadn't settled down and gave up another single to HIrano - runners on first and second. Fujii then managed a double - hit into left centre which welcomely brought in a run 1-0 Tigers. Hirano tried to make home as well but was tagged out at the plate with Fujii taking third as a result. Nohmi struck out looking and then started well in the Swallows second striking out two and then getting Yamada to ground out. Tigers then went of the boil and Muranaka found his rhythm. All three Tigers batters fell in order in their third and with the same happening in the bottom the game looked to be turning into a pitching duel.

Sekimoto picked up a walk in Tigers fourth but was forced out when Takahiro Arai hit into a double play which incidentally ended the innings. Swallows roused themselves in their fourth and challenged Nohmi again. Hatakeyama singled and Iihara walked with one out but the next two batters failed to move this pair round and the innings was scoreless. Tigers fifth was quiet but Swallows fifth started with a two base hit to left for Yamada with no outs. Surely, they would make something of this? Nohmi was equal to the challenge and retired the next batters finishing with a nice strike out of Ueda. Tigers then had a go themselves in the sixth. Uemoto led off with a double to left centre. Yamato was called on to bunt but Kawamoto couldn't decide where to throw the ball and by the time he had done so both runners were safe on first and third. Tigers were in with a real chance here. Toritani walked to load the bases and then Tigers fluffed the chance. Ryota Arai grounded out to third. Sekimoto grounded out to third. Takahiro Arai then popped up to second to end the innings. Tigers had really wasted a golden chance with some terrible batting. Nohmi, though, kept his cool and retired the batters in order in the Swallows sixth. Tigers still had the lead.

Tigers seventh saw Fujii single with one out. Nohmi messed up his three bunts and then Uemoto grounded out to third to end the innings. Swallows seventh followed a similar pattern, Kawamoto singled with one out and was caught trying to steal. He is another one doesn't expect to succeed much when he attempts to steal.Yamamoto took over for Tigers eighth and gave up a one out single to Toritani. This didn't help Tigers as the next two batters failed again. For Swallows eighth we saw Fukuhara who wasn't working well with Fujii either. He struck out Kawabata but then gave up a single to Milledge. Miwa pinch ran for Milledge and stole second. Ueda grounded out taking Miwa to third and Fukuhara was only one out away from a safe exit from the innings. He failed and Tanaka singled right bringing in the tying run 1-1 scores tied, runner on first. Hatakeyama flew out but the lead was gone. Swallows brought on Barnette intending to close the Tigers down and grab a sayonara victory. It didn't work as planned. Hirano singled to short with one out and was able to take second on a poor throw. He reached third on Fujii's ground out and then with Hiyama (pinch hitter) at the plate Barnette let fly a wild pitch which Kawamoto failed to stop. Hirano raced home 2-1 Tigers and the lead back. Swallows impolded - their is no other word for it. Hiyama hit to Barnette who threw wildly to first and Hatakeyama didn't take the ball. Hiyama made second. Uemoto singled to centre bringing in Shunsuke (pinch running for Hiyama) 3-1 Tigers, runner on first. Yamato hit his first hit to left for a double bringing in Uemoto 4-1 Tigers, runner on second. This brought a pitching change but the Swallows nightmare continued. Hidaka tried and failed to stem the charge. Toritani singled to centre bringing in another run 5-1 Tigers, Ryota Arai hit nicely to left setting up runners on second and third. Sekimoto administered the coup de grace with a two base to left centre 7-1 Tigers, runner on second. Finally, Takahiro Arai took pity on the abject Swallows and flew out to centre to end the innings. After all that there was no real doubt as to which team was going to win. Still Wada brought on Kyuji Fujikawa for the Swallows ninth. He retired the rather shell shocked batters but took 19 pitches to do it - rather a lot given the Tigers situation. Still a comfortable victory for Tigers.

A very welcome series win. Tigers had overwhelmed Swallows pitching after a tight game. Sadly, Nohmi didn't pick up the much deserved win - that went to Fukuhara who had pitched the eighth and given up the run. Tigers can be quite satisfied with the past week - they now travel to Kyocera Dome to face the Dragons and then Mazda to play the Carp.