April 18th Enokida v Sawamura - Revenge - Murton explodes

Even in victory Wada is clueless. With ample evidence that Enokida was a bit wayward and had enjoyed a fair amount of luck he put him in for the eighth innings. Baring a miracle Giants weren't going to win but why create a psychological block for Enokida concerning the eighth innings? This is the second game in a row he has had to be pulled in the eighth. The obvious option would have been to replace him after the seventh and go to the relief. Tigers batting was very convincing this game and runs flowed with ease reversing the score of the previous night. The change in battery brought an immediate improvement with Hidaka calling a nice game and working well with a very wild at times Enokida. Scores

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

Starting Lineups

Tigers
1. Nishioka (Second)
2. Yamato (Centre)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Murton (Left)
5. Fukudome (Right)
6. Takahiro Arai (First)
7. Saka (Third)
8. Hidaka (Catcher)
9. Enokida (Pitcher)

Giants
1. Chono (Right)
2. Terauchi (Second)
3. Sakamoto (Short)
4. Abe (Catcher)
5. Lopez (First)
6. Bowker (Left)
7. Murata (Third)
8. Ohta (Centre)
9. Sawamura (Pitcher)

Fukudome was restored to fifth place and Arai to sixth reversing the order of the previous night. One wonders what this pointless change was for? More logically Saka came in for the non-performing Conrad at third. Hara also made an incomprehensible change - after Matsumoto's fine game yesterday he was replaced by Ohta which would cost the Giants dear. Sawamura was not on form and in fact looked very ordinary. He started by walking Nishioka. Tigers disdained the bunt (Yaay!) this game and Yamato hit a grounder to second which took Nishioka to second. Next was Toritani who swung and lifted one high and deep. Ohta was standing in and had to track back but didn't have the pace. He managed to touch the ball with his glove but it evaded him and landed nicely. Nishioka was home 1-0 Tigers with Toritani showing nice speed and taking third. Murton swung at his first pitch and bounced it into the glove of Sakamoto who threw to first for the out. Tigers were still in with a chance and Fukudome clinically drove the ball past the dive of Terauchi for a timely single 2-0 Tigers, runner on first. Arai though struck out looking to end the innings. Enokida's start was surprisingly low key. He did retire the batters rapidly but didn't look to be entirely in control of his pitches. Still he was well guided by Hidaka. Chono grounded out to Toritani, Terauchi grounded out to Nishioka and Sakamoto flew out to centre. Tigers second was quickly over Saka, Hidaka and Enokida all grounding out to Terauchi at second. Giants second saw Enokida's wildness start to appear. The first batter was Abe and Hidaka called for an inside pitch. This was a bit too inside and hit Abe on the back - his second dead ball in as many games. I know Abe is a big target but this is too much - runner on first. Lopez tried to hit deep but Fukudome was reliably under the ball for the first out. Bowker swung and missed at a nice cutball. Interestingly only 44% of Enokida's pitches were straights. While straights were the main pitch he used he also used a mixture of sliders, shutos, cutballs and curves. With two out Murata grounded out to Toritani to end the innings. All this time Abe had stayed on first. Tigers third started with both Nishoka and Yamato flying out. Then Toritani hit into right centre for a single. Next was Murton who got hold of his fourth pitch, a high inside slider and deposited it in the left stand for a two run home run - his first of the season 4-0 Tigers. Fukudome popped one up and Sakamoto went back and took it successfully to end the innings. This was the end of Sawamura who would sit in the dugout looking disconsolate for quite a while. Giants still couldn't get going in the bottom - Ohta and Matsumoto (pinch hitting for Sawamura) both struck out and then Chono hit to right centre but was snagged comfortably by Yamato to end the innings. Tigers were comfortably in control.

Giants needed a new pitcher and so Koyama took the mound. He also was uninspired and was unable to stem the tide of Tigers hits. Arai led off the Tigers fourth hitting to right. Then Saka managed to put one over the infield into centre field - runners on first and second. Hidaka struck out but Enokida bunted the runners to second and third. It was all down to Nishioka but this time he struck out looking to an inside straight. He looked surprised but it looked a very good pitch. Enokida was by now getting really wild and walked Terauchi in four. Sakamoto singled, looping the ball high but not deep enough for Fukudome to take - runners on first and second. Here some nice fielding came into play. Abe flew out to Fukudome who was quickly onto the take and threw strongly to keep Terauchi locked on second. In fact it went a bit too far and was fielded by Nishioka between second and third but the runner didn't advance. Then Enokida dead balled Lopez to load the bases. He certainly was living dangerously. He needed something special and got it with a piece of luck against Bowker. He had sent down to pitches, one a strike, one a foul but the third was inside and high. Bowker swung anyway and missed. Hidaka made a nice take for the strike out. Two outs and Tigers looked like they might get out of the situation. Murata was next and cracked a nice hit to left where Saka took a good diving catch. He got up quickly and threw to second for the force out. A nice piece of work one thought but the replays showed that Nishioka's foot was off the sack when he took the ball and he didn't get back but ran away from it. Tigers had been lucky with the umpires again, the innings being over. Koyama started the Tigers fifth better but rapidly fell off. Yamato grounded out. Toritani drove the ball just right of second base and Terauchi dived but could only glove the ball into centre. Toritani rounded the base looking for second but slipped and fell and had to track back to first. Next up Murton with Tigers fans in full voice. Murton with a beautiful swing slammed the ball between right and centre where it bounced off the wall. Toritani used his speed to round the bases all the way home with Murton stopping on second 5-0 Tigers. Fukudome couldn't convert though and struck out. The Koyama dead balled Arai - another one who's control was not the best. Tigers had runners on first and second with Saka next. He struck out swinging to end the innings. Enokida still showed poor command of the zone and Ohta led the Giants fifth off with a single. Yano (pinch hitter) hit into a 6-4-3 double play but then Chono singled right. Terauchi messed up entirely and grounded out to Hidaka to end that chance. Kasahara took over for Tigers sixth and it seemed as if Giants were introducing pitchers in descending order of quality. He really was poor. He faced Hidaka as lead off and left his second pitch high in the zone. Hidaka blasted it into the right stand to the ecstatic reaction of the Tigers fans 6-0 Tigers. Enokida struck out of course with Nishioka earning another walk.Yamato grounded out to Sakamoto forcing out Nishioka but making first safely himself. Toritani walked and Tigers had runners on first and second with Murton next. He turned an inside straight right into the corner for another double. Both Toritani and Yamato were home 8-0 Tigers, runner on second. It was the first time that Murton had driven in 5 runs in a game in NPB. Fukudome grounded out to second to end the innings. Sakamoto led Giants sixth off by grounding. Abe tried to beat Fukudome and failed, flying out. Lopez though hit and reached first safely. Enokida's first pitch to Bowker nearly took his head off; it was totally wild. Enokida looked suitably ashamed and doffed his cap before getting the Giants left to ground out and end the innings safely with his very next pitch.

Arai led off Tigers seventh hitting the ball off the wall for a nice double. Saka walked which brought up Hidaka. He watched one, swung wildly at the second and then latched on to another fork driving it straight up centre. Arai set off and rounded third only to be held up by Yoshitake. This was a mistake - the run was there for the taking and Arai would have made home with ease - he has speed round the bases. Tigers were in with a great chance - no outs and bases loaded and the management blew it badly. It could be argued that runs weren't needed at 8-0 but then you can never be too sure. Enokida had been very variable and it would have been a good time to bring on a pinch hitter to add to the score. Instead Enokida struck out without swinging. Nishioka swung too soon and popped up. Then Yamato flew out ending the innings - a real waste. Tigers had missed a great chance and they should have concentrated on getting runners home as practice for the situations like that which occur when they really need runs. It was very poor management indeed. Enokida returned for Giants seventh and immediately showed how questionable the decision to keep him in had been walking Murata in four. Ohta hit to Saka at third. He fielded and threw to Nishioka for the force out but the throw was a grubber and pulled Nishioka off base allowing Murata to reach base safely, runners on first and second. Suzuki (pinch hitter) hit nicely to right but a fine jump by Nishioka just succeeded in snagging the ball for the out. Chono hit a fly to right which Fukudome took and made sure the runners didn't advance. Finally Terauchi struck out swinging. Enokida had survived again. Katsuki pitched Tigers eighth and induced both Toritani and Murton to ground out to Terauchi (who had taken over short because Sakamoto had a fever and had to go off). Fukudome worked a walk forcing Katsuki to throw nine pitches in a long at bat. Arai, though, went the same way as the previous two outs and the innings was over. If Tigers seventh was inept then the eighth was even more so. There is such a thing as riding your luck and such a thing as pushing your luck and Wada was clearly pushing his. Wakiya (replacement second) led off the Giants eighth with a single. He then stole second with Katoh (replacement catcher) at the plate. Now either Tigers ignored this steal or they totally failed to spot it and respond to it. Katoh struck out swinging and Lopez flew out to left. Bowker walked which brought up Murata. He drove along the base line for a timely double 8-1 Tigers, runners on second and third. The penny finally dropped for Tigers management and Enokida was replaced by Andoh for the final out. This was Ohta who grounded out to second to end the innings and Giants last chance of victory. Tigers ninth was a rare quiet innings. Saka grounded out then Hidaka flew out. Finally, Ryota (pinch hitter) grounded out to end the innngs. Giants ninth was pitched by Tsutsui and it was nice to see that Hidaka was left in and not replaced by Fujii. Sanematsu (pinch hitter) lined out to Saka but he was the only batter to offer any real resistance. The next two Chono and Terauchi went down quickly in a sudden collapse. Tigers victory.

A very nice victory which restored the overall series lead to Tigers. Enokida had shown some very nice stuff but had also been very wild and nervous at times. Full credit to Hidaka for his hard work in ensuring that Enokida did not lose it. The batting had been superb with Murton hitting freely and the other batters also hitting. The management of the game had been poor though. Wada and his coaches were rather lucky in many respects and one cannot say that they really understand the pitching or when to switch. They had gotten away with it this time but possibly won't next time. Tigers return to Koshien to face the Swallows and this time should win the series.