March 30th Iwata v Ishikawa - A defeat

The first defeat followed rapidly on the first win as Tigers struggled to cope with the Swallows pitcher Ishikawa. He wasn't exactly dominant but managed to avoid giving up runs which was all that mattered. It was a sign of Swallows desperation that he also pitched well into the ninth. The Iwata Fujii combination worked well and at the end of seven innings Iwata had only thrown 87 pitches - very economical. However, as so frequently in the last season Iwata suffered from a lack of run support and the single run in the first innings sufficed to win the game for the Swallows. Fujii did well as well which was encouraging and there was no mid innings meltdown. There was trouble in the seventh but this was competently handled. Scores:

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

Starting Lineups

Tigers
1. Nishioka (Second)
2. Yamato (Centre)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Ryota Arai (First)
5. Fukudome (Right)
6. Murton (Left)
7. Conrad (Third)
8. Fujii (Catcher)
9. Iwata (Pitcher)

Swallows
1. Tanaka (Second)
2. Ueda (Centre)
3. Milledge (Left)
4. Hatakeyama (First)
5. Iihara (Right)
6. Miyamoto (Third)
7. Aikawa (Catcher)
8. Kawashima (Catcher)
9. Ishikawa (Catcher)

Tokyo was chilly and overcast which no doubt contributed to the dullness of the game. It also probably had an influence on Ishikawa's dead balling of Nishioka to start the game off. Yamato grounded out forcing out Nishioka but avoiding the double play. Toritani singled putting runners on first and second and things looked promising. Ryota Arai fumbled his shot but then Ishikawa messed up the take and Tigers had the bases loaded with one out. Here Swallows fought back - Fukudome looking to hit deep struck out swinging and Swallows had avoided the sacrifice. Murton did hit deep but could only fly out and the innings was over. If Ishikawa struggled in first then so did Iwata. Tanaka led off with a single. Next was Ueda who bunted - this was poorly dealt with and Tanaka was able to reach third. Milledge walked as Iwata was having difficulty keeping his pitches up and Fujii was having to work hard to stop them. Hatakeyama hit a grounder to short and Tanaka scampered home 1-0 Swallows with Hatakeyama on first - Tigers having gone for the double play and missed. Matsui grounded out to Iwata to end the innings. Ishikawa still hadn't settled and walked Conrad to start the Tigers second. Fujii immediately extinguished that by hitting into a double play but then Ishikawa walked Iwata. Nishioka though flew out to end the innings. Swallows second was quiet with the batters falling in order. Tigers third followed the same pattern and the three batters fell in order. The game was settling down to a pitching duel. This was confirmed with Swallows third - batters going down in order.

In Tigers fourth, Ishikawa walked Conrad (his second walk of the game) with two out. As the next batter was Iwata it was an easy task for the Swallows ace to get out of the innings without damage. The 1-0 lead still stood. Milledge led off Swallows fourth with a double to left - a dangerous situation. However, an inflield grounder and fly kept him on second and Matsui grounded out to Iwata ending that chance. Tigers fifth saw the batters fall in order - likewise Swallows fifth. The sixth was the same with batters struggling to make any headway against very tight pitching.

Of the two pitchers Ishikawa had thrown most though and started Tigers seventh by giving up a single to Murton. Fujii grounded out with one out and some fine fielding by Swallows also accounted for Murton to end the innings. Iwata ran into trouble in Swallows seventh with Hatakeyama leading off with a single. Matsui bunted him to second and then Miyamoto singled to set up runners on first and third. Aikawa walked to load the bases, Iwata having trouble with his inside pitches again (and here Fujii could have shown more imagination in his calling). Kawashima flew out but not far enough for the sacrifce - to first in fact. Finally Ishikawa struck out. Tigers couldn't manage anything in their eighth but wisely made a pitching change for Swallows eighth. Tsuru took the mound and took out the batters in order. Now the question was would Ishikawa get his first complete game shutout of the season in his first start. He started well getting Toritani to ground out but Ryota hit a single and was pinch run for by Shunsuke. Fukudome also grounded out taking Shunsuke to second. This was the end of Ishikawa, Swallows deciding to ensure the victory by bringing Barnette on. He had thrown 127 pitches - a rather high count and had never really mastered the conditions but had shown enough to ride out the threats. Barnette walked Murton and then struck out Conrad to end the game. Swallows victory.

Whilst the weather had played a big part Swallows had held the lead well and shut down the Tigers offence very effectively. Nice pitching by Ishikawa had prevented the Tigers batters from breaking loose and Iwata had once again suffered from a lack of run support. These things happen and one shouldn't read too much into this game - any team can be shut down. If the game today is played it will be Fujinami's first start of his professsional career and an interesting prospect. Can Tigers actually develop a talented pitcher given their record of fluffing things in the past?