June 18th Uezono v Katayama - Sekimoto's big day

Tigers owner Miyazaki-san has just retired. The new owner will be Sakai-san. Kanemura went five innings without a run in his most recent ni-gun outing. He should soon be ready to join the top team. The game last night saw Tigers overwhelm Rakuten. Good pitching and the ability to execute in bases loaded situations were the key to victory. Lin made his first start at right this season and Sekimoto hit his first home run. Line scores

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

Starting lineups
1. Akahoshi (Centre)
2. Sekimoto (Third)
3. Arai (First)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Lin (Right)
6. Toritani (Short)
7. Noguchi (Catcher)
8. Fujimoto (Second)
9. Uezono (Pitcher)

Golden Eagles
1. Watanabe (Short)
2. Takasu (Second)
3. Rick (Left)
4. Yamasaki (First)
5. Fernandez (Third)
6. Yokogawa (Right)
7. Yamazaki (Centre)
8. Ino (Catcher)
9. Katayama (Pitcher)

Uezono started brightly striking out Watanabe looking and then getting the next two batters. Katayama's first start was not so good. In the Tigers first he faced Sekimoto. The Tigers third baseman relieved of the responsibility of bunting Akahoshi to second (he had struck out) took a mighty swing at his fourth pitch and sent it over the fence for his first home run of the season 1-0 Tigers. The next two batters Arai and Kanemoto didn't do anything and the innings ended quietly. A home run given up but not a major problem in your first innings. Rakuten's second saw Uezono's only walk - Fernandez. He reached second on a fumble but the final batter of the innings, Yamazaki flew out. Katayama's second innings was poor. He started by walking Lin. Then he walked Toritani and finally Noguchi. Bases loaded no outs. Fujimoto hit a sacrifice fly (maybe he should have waited for another walk) 2-0 Tigers. Uezono was next and he bunted the runners to second and third and then Akahoshi hit 3-0 Tigers. The final batter Sekimoto lined out to end the innings. Two runners were left on third and first and maybe Tigers could have scored more. Rakuten of course wanted to hit back and so Ino hit. He moved to second on Katayama's ground out and then third on a Watanabe hit. The next batter Takasu hit to Arai who went for second to turn the double play. Watanabe was out, Takasu was safe but Ino was home 3-1 Tigers. Next batter Rick who swung at his first pitch and only succeeded at lofting it to Fujimoto. He (and he does this occaisionally) dropped a sitter. Rakuten had runners on first and third with two outs. Uezono was up to the challenge. He got Yamasaki swinging at an outside fastball - end of innings.

Katayama had settled down by now - the Tigers third saw the batters retired in order. In Rakuten's fourth Yokogawa hit but got no support and stayed on first. In the bottom Fujimoto hit but once again nothing came of it.Takasu hit in the fifth but with two outs didn't go anywhere as the next batter flew out. Katayama walked Arai but Kanemoto grounded out - all of this was quite quick and the game moved along at a very fast pace. The Golden Eagles sixth saw Yamasaki collect his second strike out of the evening then Fernandez hit. Yokogawa flew out and Fernandez tried to steal second. Noguchi gunned him down - end of innings. Tigers sixth was quieter - Katayama having found a grove.

For the Golden Eagles second Okada switched to Kubota. Uezono had thrown 82 pitches over his six innings walking only 1 and giving up five hits. He had struck out seven and given up only one run - a truely impressive piece of pitching. He probably could have pitched the seventh but Okada mindful of having the best relief team in Japan wasn't taking any unnecessary risks. Kubota was at his best. Yamazaki struck out in three. Then Kubota faced Kusano (pinch hitter) - when he feels confident he uses balls as ranging shots and this was one of those cases. Three balls were followed by two strikes in almost the same place. Then Kusano fouled one but missed the next pitch and struck out. Kenshi (pinch hitter) took a ball and then grounded out and the innings was over. Katayama was also replaced for the Tigers seventh. His debut hadn't been too bad with only his second innings being poor. He had thrown 102 pitches and walked four but the cluster of three consecutive walks had cost him two runs. Yoshizake took the mound and ran into big trouble. Fujimoto hit and then Yano (replacement catcher for JFK) had a two base - runners on second and third with no outs. Next batter was Akahoshi who walked - bases loaded exit Yoshizake. Matsumoto appeared and gave up a hit to Sekimoto 4-1 Tigers. He then got Arai to ground out without the score going up but Nomura decided someone else would face Kanemoto. The lucky soul was Arime and his first pitch was hit to right for a two run timely hit 6-1 Tigers and the game was suddenly out of Rakuten's reach. Tigers had runners on first and third with only one out but Lin flew out and Tortani struck out.

For Rakuten's eighth Okada went with Williams. With a five run lead this wasn't really necessary so its possible he felt Williams could do with the practice. Williams was quick - four pitches was enough to strike out Watanabe, one to ground out Takasu and two to ground out Rick. Tigers eighth was almost as bad as the seventh for Rakuten. Arime had been replaced by Nagai. He started by walking Baldris (pinch hitter) then giving up a hit to Fujimoto (he went three for three). Then he walked Yano - bases loaded, no outs again! Nagai continued - maybe Nomura had run out of pitchers and Akahoshi hit towards second. He went for home but Baldris was safe 7-1 Tigers. Akahoshi was safe on first and the bases were still loaded. Sekimoto decided on a sacrfice fly which was taken by centre but 8-1 Tigers. Arai struck out - a quiet game for him and Kanemoto flew out to end the innings. Final innings was Watanabe who probably also needed the practice. He struck out Yamasaki and then got Fernandez with a centre fly. Next batter was Yokogawa who struck out swinging to end the game. Tigers victory.

A well worked victory built on very good pitching from Uezono and Kubota. Rakuten loaded the bases with no outs three times and this kind of carelessness was always going to be punished. You sensed that when they loaded the bases in the seventh any chance they had of victory had evaporated. Good work by the Tigers offense as well - Sekimoto had a great game. Fujimoto managed three hits and a sacrifice fly but his position will be under threat when Hirano is fully fit.

At this point, Tiger has a very good chance to become the inter-league winner. Only Giant, Softbank and Nippon Ham can be the challangers. Two home games VS Nippon Ham Fighter seems to be the better chance than any other teams. Giant and Nippon Ham is 1 game behind. Softbank (if win over Yakult) needs to plan 2 away games VS Giant who is really strong at Tokyo Dome.

True - it is very possible but Nippon Ham are a tough team to beat. I envisage Giants and Softbank splitting the series at Tokyo Dome.

Another solid outing by Uezono. With some injuries (Andoh, Fukuhara) and some question marks (Atchison, etc.), it's good to see a solid addition to the rotation.
And I don't think we could find any stats on this, but Sekimoto must be the first player in history to have four bunts one game and a home run the next!