August 28th Messenger v Yoshinori - Tigers take it

Arai has been throwing poorly from third recently, barely getting the range and anyone at first has had to really stretch to take. The coaches are going to work with him on it but maybe signs of shoulder problems? The current expedient is to replace him with Yamato for the ninth innings. This game was tight and saw Kyuji play in his 500th game. Tigers have already announced that they will not be posting him but with his international free agency coming up soon he may be gone after next season. Tigers owned the Swallows in August with a 7-1 (yes that is correct) record and one game rained off. The game I went to see was the one defeat! Scores

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

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

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

Both pitchers would be effective with Messenger being very, very good. Yoshinori was fast but lacked control and surprisingly managed to avoid giving up a run until the seventh. This was partially due to Arai who had his 2 cent head on this game and messed up a very good chance. Swallows started brightly with Kawashima hitting to right - in fact three of the Swallows four hits would be into the right outfield (the other was a centre hit). He made second on the slumping Aoki's ground out but then Messenger upped the gears a little and struck out both Guiel and Hatakeyama to end the innings. Yoshinori proved to be wild - mostly struggling with the bottom of the zone. Hirano grounded out to second but then Shibata walked. Toritani joined him and Tigers had runners on first and second. Next was Arai who struck out looking - he was rather aggrieved about this thinking that the pitch had been a ball but the umpire was probably right. Murton was the final batter of the innings lining out to Tanaka at second. Swallows second was quiet with no runner reaching base. Messenger finished the innings striking out Tanaka with a nice outswinger which had the Swallows second totally fooled. Kanemoto led off Tigers second registering Tigers first hit. He bounced the ball high and by the time it had come down had beaten the throw to first. Morita scooped one up to Guiel at left. Yoshinori let fly a wild pitch - as I said he had control problems which took Kanemoto to second but Fujii grounded out to short. Next was Messenger and the outcome was never in doubt - Messenger hit a grounder to first and the innings was over. Swallows third was another quiet affair with Messenger ending the innings with yet another strikeout victim - this one being Kawashima, caught looking. Hirano woke up in Tigers third and worked a walk, Yoshinori's control being particularly bad. Shibata bunted him to second which was all a bit pointless as Toritani walked. If Shibata had waited it could have been runners on first and second with no outs instead of with one out. Yoshinori let go another wild pitch which took the runners to second and third and things looked promising with Arai next. He hit straight to short who threw to the catcher blocking off Hirano's attempt to run. Toritani advanced to third blocking off the return route for Hirano and he was caught and tagged out. In the meantime Arai had decided he would take second but Kawamoto was aware of this and fired the ball to second where Arai was tagged out. Not only was Arai's shot stupid but he should have stayed on first which would have set up a runners on first and third situation with two outs and Murton next. Arai had blown the chance and almost did something similar with a sayonara game last season. Sometimes he doesn't think.

Aoki led off Swallows fourth with a drive into right. Guiel struck out and as he swung at the third strike lost hold of his bat which flew off and hit the netting behind the plate. It cannoned into the Tigers dugout where Nohara (more of him later) reached up and plucked it out of the air. Hatakeyama drove into centre to set up runners on first and and second. Balentien skied one and Hirano raced round behind first to take it in foul ground. The same happened with Miyamoto and what had been Swallows best chance was over. Tigers fourth was quiet - the first innings where they didn't have a runner on base. Both Kanemoto and Morita flew out to short in this innings. Tanaka led off Swallows fifth with a hit to right. Swallows were doing well with lead off hits but failing to exploit them. Kawamato struck out swinging and then Yoshinori tried to bunt. His final attempt landed foul and he was out with three failed bunts. Then Kawashima struck out swinging and the innings was over. Tanaka hadn't moved from first. Yoshinori started Tigers fifth with a very good strike out of Fujii looking. Messenger struck out as well, this time swinging but Hirano hit to right. He stole second but Shibata (who was ineffective with the bat and more than a bit inept) grounded out to second. Swallows sixth was quiet and no one reached base. The question now was whether Messenger would get another innings - he had already thrown 100 pitches. Tigers sixth was also quiet with Arai striking out in his swing at low balls outside the zone mode. Murton hit but then Kanemoto drove his first pitch straight down the throat of Aoki to end the innings.

Messenger did return for Swallows seventh and was excellent finishing the innings off with a strike out of Tanaka. A very fine pitching effort with four hits and no walks. Yoshinori also returned for Tigers seventh. He had settled down in the most recent innings and had thrown less than Messenger at this stage. He started by striking out Morita with a low fork but that was the last bit of good news. His control drifted and Tigers batters would put together a sequence of hits to left centre. Fujii was first, hitting over Kawashima for a single. Hiyama (pinch hitting for Messenger) followed with a single to left centre past Kawashima. He was pinch run for by Nohara who made his NPB debut - runners on first and second. Next was Hirano who hit his first pitch nicely into left centre bringing in Fujii 1-0 Tigers, runners on first and second. Here Mayumi switched Nohara on second with another pinch runner, Yamato. It all seemed a bit pointless. Shibata struck out swinging and really does look off the pace. There were a couple of pitches which he could have productively hit but he left and then he swung at the wrong pitch. Toritani drew a walk to load the bases but Arai hit weakly to second and the innings was over. Tigers had the lead and needed to hold it. Enokida pitched Swallows eighth and had a rather easy ride - Swallows didn't seem to have any fight left and even Morioka pinch hitting for Yoshinori didn't liven them up, the batters fell in order. Barnette pitched Tigers eighth and was similarly effective, also retiring the batters in order. Fujikawa started Swallows ninth by striking out Aoki. Takeuchi (replacement left) flew out to Yamato (who had replaced Arai again) and then Hatakeyama hit striaght back to Kyuji for a straightforward pitcher ground out to end the game. Tigers victory.

Tigers had pulled off a nice tight victory. Messenger picked up his 9th win and is pitching really superbly. Kyuji recorded his 30th save and the hero interview went to Messenger and Hirano. My wife actually commented that Hirano doesn't look that bright which considering how he plays the game is a fair judgment. Head sliding is not the most intelligent way of arriving at a base but at least he didn't have the opportunity to do this this game and in fact when he stole second he had slid in feet first. Tigers are part of a three way tie for second place and the gap between the teams and the faltering Swallows is narrowing. Their next series is Nagado and they really do need to try and take the series this time. They will travel to Jingu next week for another series against the Swallows 9-11 September. The pennant is still there for the taking.