August 11th Fujinami v Yamai - Overpitching Fujinami

Having decided that the pitching limits on Fujinami could now be raised, Nakanishi and Wada wasted no time on over-pitching their young star. It was a nice display but really was the victory worth it. It would have been more sensible to have Fujinami replaced in the seventh and even though he is young one doesn't want to burn him out too soon. Scores

         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E
Tigers   0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  1 1 6 0
Dragons  0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  0 0 3 0

Starting Lineups

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

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

Yamai is often a tricky pitcher for Tigers and this game was no exception. He started by retiring the batters in order. Fujinami started by walking Ohshima. A wild pitch took Ohshima to second and then Morino's grounder took him to third. With only one out everything looked set for a Dragons lead but Fujinami responded superbly striking out Clark and getting Luna to fly out without damage. Tigers second was quiet as was Dragons. Finally, Tigers were able to get runners on in their third and wasted the chance. With Ryota out Fujii singled to third and beat Luna to the plate. Fujinami tried to bunt but was out with three failures. Imanari hit to second who managed to throw the ball away and Tigers had runners on second and third. Yamato though could only hit to short to end the innings. Tanishige walked to lead off Dragons third but then fell to a Yamai double play as the pitcher messed up his bunt. Ohshima could only ground out to second this time.

Toritani walked to lead off Tigers fourth but was out trying to steal second. No one else could get on base. Dragons fourth was quiet with Fujinami striking out Clark and Luna. At this stage though you would have placed money on Dragons to win - this kind of grinding boredom is their forte. Tigers fifth was quiet and then the Dragons effort came in the bottom. With one out Hirata singled. Ibata popped up to short and then Tanishige singled - runners on first and third. The last batter was Yamai who was good for a few more innings and so the chance died as he struck out swinging. Amazingly this point was the last Dragons hit until the tenth. Tigers sixth also saw an attempt by Tigers - a one out double to Imanari was followed by a single to left by Yamato - runners on first and third. Imanari should have gone for home but was held up so that Toritani could drive in the run. It didn't work out that way as he hit to second. Morino threw to home for the tag out and Tigers had runners on first and second instead. Murton flew out to right. After the excitement of the previous two innings Dragons sixth was quiet and the batters fell in order.

With one out in Tigers seventh it was Saka's turn to double. Ryota struck out swinging and then Fujii was deliberately walked to get at Fujinami. He also struck out ending the innings. Dragons seventh was quickly over and no one reached base. Imanari led off Tigers eighth with a single. He was pinch run for by Shunsuke who was bunted to second by Yamato. Toritani flew out to left but Yamai was clearly tiring as he walked first Murton and then Arai to load the bases. However, he still had enough pop in him to get Saka to ground out to second for the final out. Dragons eighth saw Ibata lead off with a walk. He made second on Tanishige's ground out to second; the Dragons catcher electing not to bunt. Then he reached third on Fujii's (pinch hitter) ground out to second but Ohshima also grounded out to second ending the innings. Madrigal replaced the tired Yamai for Tigers ninthand got the three batters he faced to fly out. Tigers could now only win the game in extra time and on the face of it Wada's decision to pitch Fujinami for the Dragons ninth innings was folly. Fujinami started by walking Morino who was forced out by Takahashi's (replacement third) ground out to short. However, Luna was a bit too impatient and swung wildly flying out to Arai in foul ground. Two outs and one to go. Next was Wada who went for the hit to left but could only fly out to end the innings. The game did go into extra innings.

Okada started Tigers tenth and with two out walked Toritani. Here Takagi panicked and brought on Oguma to replace Okada. His first pitch to Murton was loose and the Tigers No. 4 blasted it into the left centre gap. Toritani raced round the bases to slide in safely and Murton stopped on second 1-0 Tigers. Arai tried to hit left but flew out to end the innings. For Dragons tenth Wada sent Fukuhara to the mound. Not even he was stupid enough to ask another innings from Fujinami. Fukuhara got Hirata to fly out to right but then Ibata singled right. Tanishige flew out in foul ground and in a last desperate throw of the dice Takagi brought on Iwasaki to pinch run for Ibata. With Matsui (pinch hitter) at the plate Takagi singled the steal and Iwasaki went for it only to be tagged out by Toritani as he slid in for the final game ending out. Tigers victory.

An excellent victory for the Tigers who had overcome the Dragons miasma and won the series. They had fought hard and fielded well and had used their extra innings strength very wisely. Fujinami picked up his eighth win and Fukuhara the save. Tigers now moved to Kyocera dome for the "home" part of shi no rodo.