September 15th Nohmi v Houlton - Breaking the jinx

Brazell announced his retirement from the Japanese game today. A decision hadn't been taken yet on his future but the outlook can't have been positive. Also to come out of the meeting was the use of Komiyama as Tigers main catcher from now on and for next season. His arm was considered a positive asset. We saw a good performance by Nohmi who works well and has a good personal relationship with Fujii. He didn't try anything fancy like Iwata and in an excellent eight innings performance kept the Giants completely under control. Scores

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

Starting lineups

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

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

Things started quietly for Tigers - in fact Houlton would pitch quite reasonably in the early stages before fading quite badly but still not giving up too much. Tigers batters went down in order. Nohmi started with a bang striking out Chono looking and then dealt effectively with the next two batters. Tigers second was also quiet and certainly at this stage Tigers looked like they had nothing to offer. With two out in Giants second, Tani singled to centre beating the field. Somehow the signal went out that he was supposed to steal second and he was out. This was a piece of folly - Tani doesn't really have the speed. Tigers third saw their first hit; Hirano leading off with a single. Then Fujii punched one through the inflied to right and Tigers had runners on first and third. In a really useless bunt Nohmi bunted Fujii to second with Hirano staying on third. Uemoto hit straight to Sakamoto which kept the runners locked on second and third and then Yamato grounded out to third to end the chance. It had been a poorly handled innings but symptomatic of Tigers approach to the game. With one out in Giants third Matsumoto singled. Houlton bunted him to second but Nohmi disposed of Chono first pitch, getting him to ground out to short.

Then came the first run of the game. Toritani led off Tigers fourth and drove the ball high enough and powerfully enough so that it just cleared the wall for a solo home run 1-0 Tigers. It was Toritani's 100th home run in NPB and this writer can remember seeing his second at Jingu Stadium against the Swallows some years ago. Ryota Arai singled left then Murton hit to second. Murton was safe but Ryota Arai tried to go too far and was tagged out. Takahiro Arai struck out swinging and finally HIrano flew out to short but Tigers had the lead. Giants tried to respond in their fourth. Fujimura flew out to short but Sakamoto walked on a full count. Abe singled left putting runners on first and third and then came the game winning moment. Murata was next and all he needed to do was whack the ball deep. His first pitch was a ball and then he swung at a high one putting it high and into the glove of Fujii. A big mistake. Nohmi then struck out Tani to end the innings - nice work by the Tigers. Tigers fifth was quiet - the batters went down in order to a no doubt relieved Houlton. Giants were still trying and with two out in their fifith, Houlton was able to hit right. Then Chono singled and Giants had runners on first and second. Here Nohmi followed Fujii's direction and struck out Fujimura in another vital moment for Tigers. Yamato led off Tigers sixth with a single to left. A walk but Toritani on first with Yamato on second. Ryota Arai struck out swinging and then Murton hit into a double play to end the innings. Sakamoto singled to lead off Giants sixth and then made second on Abe's ground out to first. Murata flew out to centre and Tani did the same. The Giants were unable to generate any momentum.

Tigers seventh saw Fujii single again with two out but as the next batter was Nohmi the result was almost assured and Nohmi struck out. Giants seventh was quiet - no heroics, the batters couldn't get on base and found momentum difficult to generate. Yano pinch hit for Houlton whose spell was finished. Fukuda pitched Tigers eighth and with Uemoto striking out gave up a single to Yamato. He made second as Toritani grounded out but Ryota Arai grounded out to short and ended the innings. Nohmi's last innings was Giants eighth. With two out Sakamoto singled but Abe was unable to cope with Nohmi and grounded out to Uemoto to end that innings. Tahara took over for Tigers ninth. Changes were planned with Komiyama and Kanemoto warming up. Shunsuke was going to take over left but for the 1-0 lead Komiyama was felt the better catcher. Murton grounded out to second and then Tahara got a bit loose to Takahiro Arai. He slammed the ball into the left stand for a solo home run 2-0 Tigers. This changed the lineup, Fujii came on to bat after Hirano struck out but grounded out to third. A two run lead was felt to be enough for him to defend and so he was left in as catcher for Giants ninth. Fujikawa pitched this innings and had an easy time of it retiring the batters in order. Tigers victory.

Tigers hadn't won on 12 previous visits to Tokyo Dome so this victory was very welcome. Fujikawa picked up his 24th save and looked good doing so. Nohmi evened his record to 9-9 and had pitched superbly well. Giants were shut out and for some reason had struggled to get going. Tigers need to play just as well to take the series though.