April 10th Messenger v Ohtake - Bunting can be dangerous

Fujii took a pitch full in his face in the second innings of the game against Hiroshima last night. Certainly it wasn't the most intelligent pitch or for that matter the most intelligent shot with Messenger the next batter but the pitch wasn't intentional either. Control was difficult in the wet conditions and the ball rose quicker than either Fujii or Ohtake expected taking him full on the left cheekbone. Fujii collapsed and was stretchered off to be replaced by Komiyama. Fujii has been deregistered and will be replaced by Okazaki. The former will have an examination today but one expects a long period away from the first team. The sad irony is that Messenger probably picked up his first win because he was paired with Komiyama for the rest of the game. He wasn't wonderful but was able to complete seven innings with a reasonable count. On the game Tigers mastered the conditions better than the Carp and basically knocked the Hiroshima outfit around badly. Carp were outclassed in every department this game and didn't look like a contender at all. Scores

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9  R  H E
Tigers  2 0 4 0 0 2 0 2 0 10 15 1
Carp    0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0  2  7 0

Starting lineups

Tigers
1. Hirano (Second
2. Shibata (Centre)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Takahiro Arai (Third)
5. Brazell (First)
6. Murton (Right)
7. Kanemoto (Left)
8. Fujii (Catcher)
9. Messenger (Pitcher)

Carp
1. Higashide (Second)
2. Soyogi (Short)
3. Maru (Centre)
4. Kurihara (First)
5. Matsuyama (Left)
6. Hirose (Right)
7. Dobayas (Third)
8. Kura (Catcher)
9. Ohtake (Pitcher)

Conditions this game were terrible with lots of rain which no doubt contributed to the very sparse crowd. There certainly didn't look to be 12, 465 people in the stadium (the official figures). Carp though would struggle more with the conditions than Tigers and this started from the very first innings. Hirano hit his third pitch to right for a single. Shibata bunted him to second and then Toritani walked. Next was Arai who also hit right but Tigers didn't attempt the run from second and the bases were loaded. Brazell followed and banged one into centre. Now Tigers brought the runners home, Shibata and Toritani crossing the home plate for a 2-0 lead. Arai was on third and Brazell was on first with Murton next. He hit into a double play to end the innings but Tigers had a handy lead. Messenger started by striking out Higashide but then Soyogi hit his first pitch to right for a two base hit. Maru walked and things looked threatening. However Kurihara flew out to centre which did move Soyogi round to third but the final batter, Matsuyama could only hit a grounder to first for the final out. Tigers had managed to escape without damage. Ohtake was still nowhere near mastering the conditions and his first pitch to Kanemoto in Tigers second was cracked to left for a two base hit. Next was Fujii who tried to bunt and took his second pitch in his face as detailed above. Ohtake was ejected to be replaced by Shinoda who faced runners on first and second. Messenger grounded out and then Hirano flew out but Shibata hit to short and beat the throw to load the bases. However, Shinoda showed good control to strike out Toritani swinging. Carp then made an absolute mess of their second. With one out Dobayashi singled left. All well and good but the next batter Kura bunted Dobashi to second. With Shinoda the next batter this was the height of folly and Shinoda duly grounded out to third. Not very intelligent play from the home side. Shinoda then demonstrated that the trouble faced by Ohtake was not restricted just to him. He started by walking Arai. Brazell hit right and then Murton hit left to load the bases with no outs. Shinoda and Kura weren't working together at all well. Kenemoto hit right bringing in Arai 3-0 Tigers bases loaded. Then Komiyama hit left past the dive of Soyogi which brought another runner home 4-0 Tigers, Messenger swung and connected somehow getting the ball into the outfield for another single 5-0 bases loaded. Hirano hit to Higashide who threw to Kura for the force out at home but Hirano was safe. Shibata hit to Shinoda once again forcing out the runner going for home but Shibata was able to beat the throw to reach first. Toritani hit hard to centre bringing in another run 6-0 Tigers. Here Hirano also tried to make home but the throw was good and he was tagged out at the plate for the final out. An interesting innings with all three outs being tag outs at the plate. By contrast Carp's third was quieter with the first two batters going quickly and only Soyogi offering any resistance before grounding out.

Perhaps surprisingly Shinoda stayed on but was more secure in Tigers fourth retiring the batters in order. Carp's fourth was more of a struggle for Messenger. He hadn't pitched well in his previous game and once again started to wander having difficulties with the top and the bottom of the zone. Kurihara led off with a bloop single to centre. Then Messenger walked Matsuyama. This wasn't good but Hirose then hit straight to Toritani who fumbled and dropped the ball in what would be an expensive error. Carp had now loaded the bases with no outs and Messenger needed to pitch well. Dobayashi struck out swinging but Kura got enough bat on one to send it into left field bringing in two runs 6-2 Tigers, runners on first and second. Shinoda was pinch hit for by Aizawa who flew out to Brazell and Tigers could look at limiting the damage to just two runs. Higashide was persuaded to fly out to Hirano and Tigers still had a comfortable lead. Nakazaki took over for Tigers fifth and pitched to Aizawa who took over the catching duties. The innings saw the batters fall in order and Carp had a breathing space. Soyogi led off their fifth with a single. He stole second - the throw from Komiyama being very good but Soyogi was just able to make second. Danger threatened again but Maru flew out to left to lessen the pressure. Kurihara was persuaded to ground out to first which did take Soyogi to third. One more out needed and this was Matsuyama who popped the ball up to Arai at third. Carp's latest challenge had been seen off. Nakazaki then ran into trouble in Tigers sixth. With Hirano out, Shibata drove his first pitch off Nakazaki's leg for a single. Nakazaki was able to continue but was affected and walked Toritani in four. Next was Arai who chose his shot and hit the ball deep right and over the field which was in for a two base hit. Both Shibata and Toritani raced home 8-2 Tigers, runner on second. A wild pitch took Arai to third and it looked like Tigers would add another but Brazell had a torrid time eventually striking out swinging and falling over trying to check his swing and avoid the ball at the same time. Murton then hit to centre but only succeeded in flying out. Carp were buried by now but with one out in the sixth Dobayashi singled. However, he stayed on first as the next two batters failed to do anything.

Kishimoto pitched Tigers seventh and walked Komiyama with one out. Messenger then tried to bunt - gingerly. Two attempts went down the first baseine and rolled foul and the third was fouled behind for the second out. Hirano then flew out. Messenger returned for Carp's seventh reasonably enough. He hadn't pitched particularly well but had had enough to get out of most of his jams. He got Higashide and then struck out Soyogi superbly but Maru singled to short and beat Toritani's throw to base. Kurihara was next and he grounded out to short to end the innings. For Tigers eighth we saw their ex-middle reliever Egusa and one couldn't escape the impression that he had sunk very low after the heights of the Tigers. He had a terrible innings giving up a hit to Shibata. Next was Toritani who with a perfectly timed lazy swing put the ball over the right fence for a two run home run 10-2 Tigers. Arai walked and things looked bad for Egusa but then Brazell hit into a double play to take the pressure off. Finally Shunsuke (replacement left) grounded out to short to end the innings. Carp's eighth was pitched by Watanabe who threw some very nice stuff and retired the three batters very quickly. Imamura pitched Tigers ninth and looked impressive striking out two looking. Finally, Fukuhara took over for Carps ninth. The victory was by now a formality though the second out Aizawa brought off a fine catch by Ryota Arai (replacement third). The final out was Higashide who immediately grounded out to Hirano to cap a good night for Tigers. Tigers victory.

A very good victory based on some very nice batting. Komiyama had done well to help Messenger to his first victory and Messenger had pitched much better and been able to go seven innings. The key to victory was the mastery of conditions and Tigers had handled these well. Carp had really lacked this and when it mattered had lacked firepower. The victory though was slightly marred by the injury to Fujii and one wishes him a speedy recovery.

Is it still an automatic ejection in the CL for hitting someone in the head? Or is it up to the discretion of the umpire? I read another English summary of the game claiming the pitcher was ejected "for throwing at Fujii," which I think is misleading because with the conditions there's a good chance it was unintentional.

Yes in the Central League hitting someone in the head earns an automatic ejection whether it's intentional or not. The pitch wasn't where Kura (Carp catcher) intended but certainly didn't look aimed at Fujii's head.