Tigers Tour: Game 3

The Tigers lost their bid for a sweep over the Carp by a score of 4-2. Oxspring suffered the loss after giving up 4 runs in 4.2 innings. Egusa came in for some long relief and pitched 2.1 innings of great work. Nohmi pitched the 8th and Kanazawa the 9th.

The Tigers had pretty much the same lineup as the last two games, the only change being the Yano-Asai switch at catcher. This seems to be a break from the past couple of weeks where the lineup has been changing drastically from day-to-day. Yano had a great night, going 3-for-4 and knocking in Sheets in the second. The Tigers fought hard the whole game, though.

Akahoshi singled and stole his 20th base with one out in the third. The Tigers strung together three singles each in the second and fifth, but could only manage one run each inning. They wasted a lead-off Yano double in the 7th. The problem wasn't having guys on, it was not being able to knock them in. I believe we are all missing Imaoka about now.

Hiyama came in to strikeout in the 7th. The crowd went nuts when he was announced, as we all know he's quite the fan favorite. He had a very good at-bat, though, as his song was sung about 12 verses, and then a little bit of "Let's go Hiyama" and then more singing. I am told that August is his month, so hopefully he'll heat up because his batting average continues to slide lower and lower.

That concludes the Tigers-Carp series, with the Tigers taking two games out of three. The Tigers now head to the Osaka Dome to host the Central League-leading Chunichi Dragons. The Tigers are three games back with three to play against the Dragons, so a sweep would bring them into a tie for first place going into the Giants series.