August 10th Nohmi v Cabrera - Clinging on by the tips of their claws

It's a win and one should never look a gift horse in the mouth but Tigers certainly almost threw the match away more than once. An inability to hold the lead and poor calling from both Shimizu (starting catcher) and Fujii (relief catcher) helped the Dragons back into the game and Fujii and Fukuhara were at daggers drawn at the end of the twelveth. Together they had almost blown a three run lead. One also has to factor in the Dragons ability (mentioned in the previous post) to counter attack but this time they fell just short. Scores

         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 R  H E
Tigers   2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  0  0  3 6 10 0
Dragons  1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0  0  0  2 5 14 2

Starting Lineups

Tigers
1. Imanari (Right)
2. Yamato (Centre)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Murton (Left)
5. Takahiro Arai (First)
6. Saka (Second)
7. Ryota Arai (Third)
8. Shimizu (Catcher)
9. Nohmi (Pitcher)

Dragons
1. Ohshima (Centre)
2. Araki (Second)
3. Luna (Third)
4. Wada (Left)
5. Hirata (Right)
6. Morino (First)
7. Ibata (Short)
8. Masato Matsui (Catcher)
9. Cabrera (Pitcher)

Tigers start saw Yamato walk with one out. Toritani doubled to right centre bringing in Yamato 1-0 Tigers, runner on second. A wild pitch took Toritani to third but all Murton could do was ground out to first. Toritani stayed on first. Arai came through and singled left 2-0 Tigers, runner on first. Finally, Saka grounded out weakly to the pitcher to end the innings. Nohmi had been handed a good start but rapidly proceeded to waste it. Ohshima led off with a single to centre and was bunted to second by Araki - the usual waste of an out. Luna struck out swinging but Nohmi failed to deal adequately with Wada who also hit to centre to bring in the run 2-1 Tigers, runner on first. Hirata walked to set up runners on first and second and then Morino hit to centre. Wada tried for home but was tagged out at the plate as the result of a good throw from Yamato. The innings was over and Tigers still held the lead. Both Ryota and Shimizu failed to prosper in Tigers second and Nohmi hit to short. Here Ibata fumbled badly and Nohmi made first safely. Imanari hit to centre putting runners on first and second and then Yamato hit left to bring Nohmi in 3-1 Tigers, runners on first and second. Tigers were scoring freely and it was encouraging to see. Toritani didn't join in the festival this time grounding out to third. Tigers needed to hold the margin and once again didn't. This time it was Ibata leading off the Dragons second with a single. Masato Matsui grounded out to third and then Cabrera bunted. Shimizu didn't really handle this well with the result that Cabrera reached first safely and Ibata was safe on third with only one out. Nohmi should have handled the next batter Ohshima better but allowed him to hit deep to centre for the sacrfice fly 3-2 Tigers, runner on first. Araki walked but Luna flew out to left to end the innings. Cabrera managed to establish a degree of control in Tigers third and retired the batters in order. The same happened in the bottom - Nohmi was able to pitch well enough to keep the heart of the Dragons offense off base.

Tigers fourth was disappointing - the batters had gone to sleep and the lower order showed none of the necessary drive in dealing with Cabrera. No one reached base. Dragons though were still on the attack. Ibata singled left to lead off their fourth. Then, this time, Masato Matsui got hold of a loose pitch and hit it right over Imanari for a double - runners on first and second with no outs. The one guaranteed out was walked by a panicking Nohmi who was getting no help from a clueless Shimizu - bases loaded. Then Nohmi let fly a wild pitch which bounced and which Shimizu missed as Ohshima struck out. Ibata scrambled home 3-3 scores tied, runners on second and third. Araki flew out in foul ground mistiming his swing totally and then Luna grounded out to short. Dragons had messed up the innings badly but then so had Tigers. However, the Dragons could be happier they were now level. Imanari led Tigers fifth off by grounding out but Yamato singled and then stole second. Toritani walked - runners on first and second. Once again Murton failed, this time he hit into a double play which ended the innings. Dragons fifth was quiet and no one was able to reach base. Tigers sixth saw Saka single with one out but he stayed on first as no one moved him round. In Dragons sixth two outs went down but then Yasue Matsui (pinch hitter) singled left off his first pitch. It was Ohshima's turn to waste the chance, he grounded out.

Tigers seventh was pitched by Madrigal who was a lot more secure than his previous outing against Tigers. He retired the three batters he faced in order. Nohmi retired the three Dragons and so the game remained in a kind of stasis. Tigers eighth saw some glimmer of a chance. Toritani walked and stole second. Murton and Arai both failed but then Saka also walked. Unfortunately, Ryota then flew out to centre and the innings was scoreless. Here we also saw another stupid piece of over pitching by Wada. Nohmi had thrown 109 pitches over seven innings which was enough but Wada wanted another innings from him. This extra effort took 19 extra pitches for no reason. In Dragons eighth Morino singled with one out but also stayed on first with the next two batters going down. Takagi blundered at this point. Sabremetrics show that you should use your star closer in the ninth to increase the chances of winning. It will not guarantee you win but will boost your chances significantly. It is probable that Takagi has never even heard of this research but he should know that Tigers are stronger at the end of the game. Instead he used Okada and his team almost blew the game there and then. Shunsuke (pinch hitter and replacement right) led off the Tigers ninth singling to Araki who threw poorly to first and missed the glove of Morino - runner on first. Wada had Fujii (pinch hitter and replacement catcher) bunt but Okada dithered about where to throw to and both runners were safe - runners on first and second. Then Tigers blundered wasting this good situation. Imanari swung wildly and flew out in foul ground. Then Shunsuke tried to steal third as Yamato struck out looking - suicidal and he was duly out. Matsuda pitched Dragons ninth and struggled quite a bit showing that Fujii wasn't much improvement on Shimizu. With one out Ohshima singled to centre. He was bunted to second which ordinarily meant that the defending team could really relax. Instead Luna singled left but Ohshima was held up on third which was another mistake by Dragons. Luna stole second which was really embarrassing for Fujii who should have gotten that out but Wada popped up to short and the Dragons had blown their chance for victory.

Asao pitched Tigers tenth and retired the batters in order. Kubo took over for the Dragons tenth and also retired the batters in order. These innings were taking a long time but generating nothing in the way of runners. A runner did come in Tigers eleventh pitched by Iwase. With two out Shunsuke singled left but Fujii could only ground out to second. Andoh pitched Dragons eleventh and got the three batters he faced to ground out. So to Tigers twelveth. This was pitched by Akifumi Takahashi who was immediately in trouble. Sekimoto (replacement third) doubled to lead off the innings. A pass ball took him to third but Yamato popped up to second. Toritani though hit to centre bringing in the runner (Tagami pinch running for Sekimoto) 4-3 Tigers, runner on first. Another pass ball took Toritani to second but Murton struck out swinging. Arai was deliberately walked - runners on first and second. Then Saka hit a straight back over Ohshima at center for a double. Both runners raced home 6-3 Tigers, runner on second. Kurose (pinch hitter and replacement third) entered and struck out swinging to end the innings but Tigers were surely home and dry. It didn't quiet work out that way. The Dragons threw everything they had into their twelveth. Fukuhara pitched and did not communicate with Fujii. It started with Fujii (pinch hitter) leading off with a single off Fukuhara's second pitch. Luna singled right to put runners on first and second. Wada went for his second pitch as well and doubled to right centre bringing in a runner 6-4 Tigers, runners on second and third. Fujii's calling patterns were not working or Fukuhara was not pitching well. Actually a bit of both. Hirata grounded out to short but Toritani could only throw to first for the first out locking Wada on second 6-5 Tigers. Morino walked - runners on first and second. Ibata grounded out to short which finally took Wada to third there were now two outs. Dragons last toss of the dice was Tanishige who swung too soon and flew out to Toritani to end the game. Tigers victory.

It had been tight right to the end but by rights Tigers should have won comfortably. The fact that they didn't does highlight issues with their catching pitching interface. Dragons weren't that effective this game at handling multiple runers on base and wasted their chances. For Tigers Murton's under performance issues are becoming serious and they have to consider whether it is appropriate to continue using him in the No. 4 slot. However, pitchers and catchers need to communicate better in future.