August 23rd Iwata v Ohno - Iwata is hot?

Another victory for Iwata which makes two in a row. This time Tigers utilised a changed lineup and brought Nakatani into the team though his debut was quiet. Hiyama drove in two runs to tie the with Yagi for Tigers best ever pinch hitter. However, what was really encouraging was to see Tigers actually get to a bad pitcher and work him over - six consecutive hits and four runs in the fourth. Iwata wasn't wonderful but is beginning to build up a head of steam. Scores

         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Dragons  0 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 3 7 0
Tigers   0 0 0 4 0 0 0 2 X 6 9 0
Starting lineups

Dragons.
1. Ohshima (Centre)
2. Araki (Second)
3. Wada (Left)
4. Morino (First)
5. Ibata (Short)
6. Tanishige (Catcher)
7. Hirata (Right)
8. Naohisa Donue (Third)
9. Ohno (Pitcher)

Tigers
1. Uemoto (Second)
2. Yamato (Centre)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Ryota Arai (Third)
5. Takahiro Arai (First)
6. Shunsuke (Left)
7. Nakatani (Right)
8. Komiyama (Catcher)
9. Iwata (Pitcher)

Things would start reasonably well for Iwata - he did walk Ohshima and Ohshima did steal second as Araki struck out; Komiyama having no chance with the throw. But he controlled the situation well and Wada grounded out before Morino flew out to end the chance. I mentioned that Ohno was a poor pitcher which strictly speaking isn't really true - he did start well. He walked Yamato but then Toritani hit into a double play to give Tigers a quiet first. Dragons got to Iwata in their second. Ibata hit into right centre - a comfortable double. Tanishige bunted the runner to third and then Hirata also hit a double. It makes you wonder what the bunt was for? Perhaps Hirata was trying for a sacrifice fly and messed it up? Anyway Ibata was home 1-0 Dragons, runner on second. Naohisa Donue grounded out which moved Hirata to third with the last batter being Ohno. He struck out swinging to end the innings. However, Dragons were ahead and you thought Tigers were in for a long innings. This impression was reinforced in Tigers second. Four, five and six fell in order. Iwata managed to establish some order in Dragons third and he too got the three batters out. He definitely pitches better with Komiyama than Fujii - he seems to prefer the former's style. Tigers third was just as discouraging as the second though. Ohno was dominant and Tigers had basically fallen in order with no hits at all and just one base runner through a walk.

Iwata worked himself into more trouble in Dragons fourth. Once again it was the lower order who caused the trouble. With one out Ibata singled. Then Tanishige as he occasionally does so but the ball over the fence for a two run home run 3-0 Dragons. This really was the end you thought - Tigers were buried and would end up being swept. Hirata flew out and Donue struck out but there was still the three run margin. What happened next almost defied belief. Tigers remembered that they are actually the better team than the Dragons. Ohno was a bit loose and was punished. Uemoto led off Tigers fourth with a single to left. Then Yamato also singled to left - runners on first and second with no outs. Toritani hit to centre putting the ball over Ohshima and bringing in a run 3-1 Dragons, runners on second and third. Ryota Arai turned the ball left for a two run timely single 3-3 scores tied, runner on first. Takahiro Arai singled left as well, runners on first and third. Then Shunsuke hit to centre bringing in the run 4-3 Tigers, runners on first and second. Tigers had turned the game round. Here the momentum faltered though. Nakatani flew out and then Komiyamma struck out. Finally, Iwata also struck out swinging but now the Tigers had the lead. They needed to hold the lead which looked to be a tall order especially as Diaz (pinch hitting for Ohno) singled to lead off the Dragons fifth. But then things started to go well for Tigers and Iwata kept his cool. Ohshima hit a grounder to Iwata who fired it to second for the force out. Though the double play didn't come off it stopped the Dragons. Araki swung too soon and popped one up to third. Then Wada struck out to end the innings. Asakura took over for Tigers fifth. He gave up a single to Uemoto who in a pointless waste of an out was bunted to second by Yamato. Why not ease the pressure? Toritani and Ryota Arai failed to move Uemoto off second and the margin remained at one run. Tigers had failed to get the insurance run. Iwata started Dragons sixth and got Morino to line out to short. Then he walked Ibata and Wada decided now was the time to switch pitchers. I do like this proactive changing of pitchers that Wada has adopted. The choice may not work all the time but the awareness of the need to change is a bright light in a sea of unrelenting incompetence. Cheng took over and walked the first batter he faced, Tanishige - runners on first and second. However, Cheng settled down much quicker than he previous outing and got Hirata to pop up to Komiyama. Then Donue grounded out to short to end the innings. Asakura was flawless in Tigers sixth retiring the batters in order. 

Cheng got Iwasaki to pop out to first to start Dragons seventh and was then replaced by Katoh. Katoh wasn't the right choice for the situation and gave up a single to Ohshima. Exit Katoh to be replaced by Tsuru. He managed the situation well getting Araki to hit his second pitch into a double play and end the innings. Mutoh took over for Tigers seventh and retired the batters in order including Hirano who had taken over at right. Fukuhara pitched Dragons eighth and started dismally. He faced Wada who doubled to left. Tigers were in a difficult situation but Komiyama worked some magic guiding Fukuhara out of the hole he had dug. Morino hit a weak grounder which Komiyama was onto so quickly that Wada couldn't get off base. Wada was replaced by Matsui as a pinch runner but this didn't help. Ibata grounded out to short with the runner locked on second and then Tanishige grounded out to short to end the innings. An excellent recovery by Tigers. Mutoh wasn''t so lucky in Tigers eighth as he had been in the seventh. He faced Yamato who singled left to lead off the innings. Yamato stole second and then Toritani walked. In a classic example of Wada stupidity Ryota Arai bunted the runners to second and third. This was wrong on so many levels. It wasted an out and what is your clean up batter for? Certainly not to bunt the runners round. Takahiro Arai was deliberately walked to load the bases and get at Nakatani for the first out. Here Wada sent Hiyama (pinch hitter) to the plate. Hiyama hit left to bring in two runs 6-3 Tigers, runners on first and second. Tigers finally had those insurance runs. Imanari (pinch hitter) was next but he skied his first pitch to Tanishige. Finally, Komiyama grounded out - still nice work by Hiyama but really the absurdity of the Ryota bunt still lingered. Fujikawa pitched Dragons ninth and walked Hirata to lead off. By now the Dragons were desperate and Fujikawa controlled things well. He struck out Nomoto (pinch hitter) and then got Tanaka (pinch hitter) to sky his first pitch to Komiyama. The final batter was Ohshima who struck out swinging to end the game. Tigers victory.

Tigers had shown what they were capable off. If only they could believe in themselves and play like this against the Dragons all the time. Fujikawa picked up his 18th save and the win went to Iwata. It had been a nice display unlike the game against Yoshimi where Tigers could have possibly taken him as well. A good sequence of hits - in fact Tigers had only one hit outside the fourth and eighth innings - had enabled Tigers to put runs on the board. More of this please.