June 28th Shimoyanagi v Ishikawa - Shimoyanagi keeps on rolling

Another well worked victory saw the Tigers lead in the Central League increase to 7 games. Aoki hit two home runs but his side was still overwhelmed. Line scores

         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Tigers   0 2 0 1 0 0 1 0 3 7 15 1
Swallows 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 2  5 0

Starting lineups

1. Akahoshi (Centre)
2. Sekimoto (Second)
3. Arai (First)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Lin (Right)
6. Toritani (Short)
7. Yano (Catcher)
8. Baldris (Third)
9. Shimoyanagi (Pitcher)

Swallows
1. Fukuchi (Left)
2. Miyamoto (Third)
3. Aoki (Centre)
4. Hatakeyama (First)
5. Tanaka (Second)
6. Wilson (Short)
7. Kawashima(Right)
8. Kawamoto (Catcher)
9. Ishikawa (Pitcher)

Ishikawa wouldn't pitch too badly but Shimoyanagi would be much, much better. Ishikawa started well - he got the Tigers out in order. Likewise Shimoyanagi who's pitching would be awesomely economical. The scoring started in the second. Kanemoto hit then Lin struck out looking. Next batter Toritani hit and then Yano - bases loaded. Up next was Baldris who hit to right for a three base. Yano was tagged out but the other two runners were home 2-0 Tigers. The final batter was Shimoyanagi who struck out. For the Swallows second the first two batters fell and then Wilson hit. He stole second but the final batter Kawashima struck out and the innings was over. With Tigers third Arai hit and Kanemoto walked - runners on first and third with two outs. Lin grounded out to short to end the chance. Swallows third saw Kawamoto reach first on a Toritani error. He was bunted to second by Ishikawa and then Fukuchi hit - runners on first and third with one out. Here Fukuchi tried to steal second which turned out to be a mistake and he was tagged out. All Shimoyanagi needed was one more out and Miyamoto duly obliged by grounding out and the innings was over.

Tigers fourth saw Toritani leadoff and he slammed his first pitch for a home run to right 3-0 Tigers. The next three batters were out easily - Shimoyanagi striking out to end the innings. Then Aoki faced Shimoyanagi and returned the complement also hitting a solo home run to right 3-1 Tigers. The next three batters were also out easily and the innings ended. Tigers fifth saw Akahoshi hit and get bunted to second by Sekimoto. Nothing came of this though. Swallows fifth was also quiet. In the sixth Lin led off with a hit and then Toritani also hit - runners on first and second with no outs. This became runners on second and third when Yano bunted. Baldris grounded out and the runner going for home was tagged out leaving Baldris safe on first and Toritani on third. The final batter was Shimoyanagi who grounded out to third for the final out. Swallows sixth saw Aoki dead balled with one out. The next batter Hatakeyama grounded into a double play to end the innings.

Ishikawa was replaced by Matsui for the Tigers seventh. He started by dead balling Akahoshi. Sekimoto bunted him to second and then Arai hit a two base to centre 4-1 Tigers. Arai was stranded as first Kanemoto and then Lin flew out. Swallows seventh was pitched by a rested Kubota. He struck out two of the batters he faced. For Tigers eighth the pitcher was Igarashi. He was on form and struck out all three batters he faced. Williams took the Swallows eighth and he took all of four pitches to get through his three outs. For Tigers ninth Hagiwara took the mound. He ran into trouble. Katsuragi (pinch hitter) hit. Akahoshi struck out looking but then Sekimoto hit - runners on first and third, next batter Arai. He hit and Akahoshi was home 5-1 Tigers. Maruyama replaced Hagiwara but to no avail. He got Kanemoto to fly out but then Ford (pinch hitter) hit 6-1 Tigers. Then Toritani hit 7-1 Tigers. Takagi was summoned and he was able to get the final out. Swallows ninth was pitched by Watanabe. He started well enough getting Miyamoto to ground out to him. Then he faced Aoki who hammered his first pitch for a solo home run to right 7-2 Tigers. The next batter Hatakeyama grounded out to first and then the final batter Tanaka flew out to end the match. Tigers victory.

A well worked victory. Tigers had controlled the game from the start based on economical pitching (70 pitches) by Shimoyanagi. He had kept the Swallows under control and not allowed them to get anywhere.

Shimo has been a huge surprise this year. From what I understand, the Tigers almost didn't even re-sign him for this year and now he has only 1 loss and has turned into their ace!

Shimoyanagi when he has a good year is pretty unbelievable. The failure to rush to re-sign him hasn't rebounded in the Tigers face and he is delivering. It's also nice to see that his pitch count is so low - in fact the Tigers pitch count for the whole game was 100 pitches.