Augst 7th Nohmi v Saitoh - Nohmi battles through

Nohmi got tired this game but still fought hard and pitched eight innings of shutout ball. This was another fine performance coupled with nice calling from Kanoh. Carp found no answer and Saitoh who has a mixed record against the Carp didn't manage to keep the Tigers off base. Arai had another good game and with him hitting the Tigers look more assured but with Nohmi finally beginning to show his potential regularly persistence has paid off. I am really delighted because I have always liked Nohmi and always hoped that he could be consistent. Scores

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

Starting lineups

Tigers
1. Hirano (Centre)
2. Yamato (Second)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Arai (Third)
6. Brazell (First)
7. Sakurai (Right)
8. Kanoh (Catcher)
9. Nohmi (Pitcher)

Carp
1. Higashide (Second)
2. Akamatsu (Centre)
3. Amaya (Right)
4. Kurihara (First)
5. McClain (Third)
6. Phillips (Left)
7. Kokubo (Short)
8. Ishihara (Catcher)
9. Saitoh (Pitcher)

A fine start by Saitoh was the only bright spot of this game. Tigers perhaps could have scored more than they did and so in some respects Carp were lucky. Like Maeda、Saitoh wasn't necessarily very bad but just bled runs. However, in the first innings he retired the first three batters in the Tigers lineup. Nohmi was also excellent retiring the batters in order. Saitoh's troubles started in Tigers second with Kanemoto's lead off hit. Arai followed and hit the first of his three two base hits of the evening - runners on second and third. Brazell tried a line hit but flew out to Phillips. However, there was enough time for Kanemoto to tag up and make home 1-0 Tigers. Nohmi then retired the next three batters of the Hiroshima lineup. Tigers third was also quiet as was Carp's third - Nohmi had retired the whole Carp side in order.

Tigers fourth saw Kanemoto blast a one out two base hit. While Saitoh was battling Arai Kanemoto made third before Arai dug one out and planted it nicely between centre and left for a two base hit 2-0 Tigers. Brazell flew out in foul ground and then Sakurai hit to left driving in another run 3-0 Tigers. Kanoh hit to right and the runners were able to reach second and third with two outs. Nohmi tried hard but wasn't able to convert. He then allowed his first man on base in Carp's fourth - a one out walk to Akamatsu but an Amaya double play rapidly put an end to any threat. Tigers fifth was quiet with the batters falling 1-2-3. This was the situation for Carp's fifth with Nohmi striking out both McClain and Phillips to end the innings. Tigers sixth saw Arai's third three base but no one managed to convert him. In Carp's sixth Nohmi began to tire. He walked Ishihara with one out and then allowed his first hit of the game to Hirose (pinch hitter). Nohmi then reached into his reserves and struck out first Higashide and then Akamatsu to end the innings but you wondered whether he could manage more innings.

Tigers seventh was pitched by Hasegawa, Brown having used Hirose to try and score. Kanoh flew out to centre and then Hasegawa walked Nohmi to keep him from warming up. This almost backfired as Hirano hit to right and Amaya let the ball dribble under his glove. This set up runners on second and third, Nohmi showing good awareness. However, first Yamato who showed poor awareness and then Toritani struck out to end the innings. Nohmi's seventh did look like an innings too far, Amaya leading off with a hit. Kurihara was next and he indulged in an outrageous bit of cheating. He swung at a Nohmi pitch and flew out to third. He then claimed that Kanoh's glove had impeded him which was absurd but was bought by the umpire who awarded him a base for interference. What rubbish! Nohim got McClain to fly out without advancing the runners and then induced a double play from Phillips to end the innings. Tigers eighth saw Kanemoto's third hit of the game and a hit from Brazell took him to second. This though was as far as the batters got and the innings was scoreless. Nohmi returned for the Carp's eighth and you really thought that too much was being asked of Nohmi. He got the first out but then Ishikawa swung at a pitch and it bounced luckily just along the left baseline for a two base hit. Ogata (pinch hitter) grounded out to short taking Ishihara to third and then Higashide grounded out to second to end the innings. For Tigers ninth Brown went with Komatsu. He gave up a hit to Katsuragi (pinch hitter). Mizuta then pinch ran for him and stole second. This looked dubious but the base umpire was on the spot. Hirano then bunted Mizuta to third and this brought up Yamato. He executed the perfect squeeze play, Mizuta sliding home perfectly 4-0 Tigers. Toritani grounded out to end the innings. Carp's ninth was pitched by Fujikawa with Yano as pitcher. This shouldn't really have happened as adding Yano doesn't add any advantage and Kanoh should have been given the honour. However Fujikawa was secure enough retiring the batters in order.

A nice victory based on some very good pitching by Nohmi. He began to fade in the sixth but this time had the strength of will to battle through to the eighth. He only gave up three hits which once again showed superb ability and great perseverence. With such pitching the Tigers batters could relax but perhaps they relaxed a bit too much as they may have scored more runs with more application. Still a very good result and nice all round performance.

I dont know if you saw the replay of Kurihara hitting Kanoh's glove, but he clearly did. Unfortunately in the rules of baseball if this happens you are rewarded the base even if the defense got you out. Therefore I dont think you can say Kurihara was cheating. Just to reiterate he clearly hit Kanoh's glove, you could even see Kanoh try to hide the fact that it happened.

I did see the replay but it didn't look like he hit the glove at all. However, I could be wrong - of course, as you say, if it did touch it is interference even though it didn't actually affect the shot.