June 15th Nohmi v Nagai - Tigers fail against Nagai

Tigers should have done better here - extremely poor batting against a pitcher who let's face it isn't that good. A quality start wasted by a rather poor lineup - Ryota Arai's punishment is backfiring as neither Saka nor Nohara are any good. Now the good part - Nohmi threw eight innings on 96 pitches whilst giving up only two runs. By any measure that is a very good pitching performance. Nagai managed only six innings on 99 pitches - what were the batters doing? Four hits is not an adequate return. Of course Wada is stupid enough to use Fujii as catcher and despite Nohmi's good pitching his calling was always going to be a factor (Rakuten have a good idea what he is going to call; he used to play for them). Scores

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

Starting Lineups

Tigers
1. Nishioka (DH)
2. Yamato (Centre)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Murton (Left)
5. Arai (First)
6. Saka (Second)
7. Nohara (Third)
8. Fujii (Catcher)
9. Shibata (Right)

Starting pitcher was Nohmi

Golden Eagles
1. Matsui (Short)
2. Akaminai (First)
3. Hijirisawa (Centre)
4. Jones (DH)
5. McGehee (Third)
6. Nakashima (Left)
7. Shimauchi (Right)
8. Shima (Catcher)
9. Fujita (Second)

Starting pitcher was Nagai

Nagai started poorly walking Nishioka in four. Wada of course and totally spoiling any momentum had Yamato bunt him to second. Then Toritani walked - runners on first and second. Murton struck out looking and Arai flew out to left. The extra out would have come in very useful here but no they have to waste one in a bunt. Nohmi's start was excellent with the Rakuten batters falling in order. Tigers second strated with Saka and Nohara failing but then Fujii singled to centre. Shibata hit to first who could only watch as Shibata made first safely with Fujii on second. Another good chance. This one was blown by Nishioka who grounded out to first to end the innings. Jones led off Rakuten's second with a walk which would prove significant. The next two batters flew out but then Shimauchi singled right to put runners on first and second. Shima walked to load the bases and then Nohmi bounced one in the ground which Fujii missed. Poor catching as the runner on third was home 1-0 Golden Eagles, runners second and third. Fujita grounded out to end the innings. Still despite the mess behind the plate it was not a serious issue as it was early in the game and only one run. With one out in Tigers third Toritani singled left and then stole second. Murton struck out but Arai walked - runners on first and second. Saka singled to centre - Nagai was that hittable bringing in Toritani 1-1 scores tied, runners on first and second. Nohara though swung too soon and popped up to first to end the innings. Still Tigers were level. It didn't last long though. We can't say a slow changeup down the middle of the zone was the right ball to throw to Matsui for his first pitch in the third. He hit left propelling the ball over the fence for a solo home run 2-1 Golden Eagles - a very poor call and a very poor pitch. What were they thinking? Akaminai grounded out and then Hijirisawa singled. This was the last Rakuten base runner all game. Can you believe it? Over the next five innings no one else from that team got on base and Tigers still managed to lose. Jones then hit into a double play to end the innings.

Shibata walked with one out in Tigers fourth but stayed on first as first Nishioka and then Yamato failed miserably. Rakuten's fourth was quiet and the batters went down in order. Tigers fifth was also quiet - the clean up seemed to have given up. The Golden Eagles fifth no base runners with Nohmi by now in complete control. Tigers sixth started quietly with the useless pair Saka and Nohara getting out. It's interesting - you destroy the confidence of one of your big hitters and then put in two non-entities to replace him. Fujii who hits well did so again - runner on first. A wild pitch took him to second - another great chance but Shibata struck out swinging. Yet another batting failure. Somehow Nagai had survived with runners on in every innings and only one run damage. The Golden Eagles sixth was quiet - it wasn't exactly exciting but Nohmi was doing all he could to keep his team in the game.

They were doing all they could to let him down. Aoyama took over the pitching for Tigers seventh and faced the top of Tigers order. They all contrived to be out. The same happened in Rakuten's seventh - though this was as much that now the Nohmi Fujii partnership had found it's groove Rakuten's meagre batting was struggling. Tigers eighth and for some reason everyone tried to hit into the sky and flew out. Not exactly good tactics here and throughout the game Tigers had looked tactically clueless. Rakuten's eighth was also very quiet - some fine pitching had kept Tigers in with a chance. For their ninth Hoshino sent Rasner to the mound. He walked Imanari (pinch hitter) on a full count and was pinch run for by Araki. What Wada did next was plain idiotic. He had Fujii bunt Araki to second - not a steal, a bunt. You put a speedster in as a runner and don't use his speed. Then you have your best batter on the day bunt? Tell me I'm dreaming. The bunt took Araki to second and then Hiyama (pinch hitter) grounded out to second. This took Araki to third but the final batter was Nishioka who struck out looking to end the game. Golden Eagles victory.

Tigers batting had failed - no doubt about it. Tactically naive decsions by Wada had compounded the issue and the good work by Nohmi and by Fujii with the bat had been wasted. Rakuten took the series 3-0 and Tigers dropped to 1.5 games off the top of the Central League as the Giants, of course, won. Still there is always the consolation game today.