May 13th Atchison v Lewis - Kanemoto's 400th but Tigers still lose

This game saw Baldris hit his first RBI for Tigers ichi-gun but more importantly Kanemoto smashed his 400th home run. Amazingly this was not carried on NHK's morning news report of the game. I have no idea who was editing the report but he screwed up big time. This is only the 15th person in Japanese baseball history to have reached the milestone. It merits a big mention. Atchison as per his recent form was not good and in fact had to retire with a damaged right elbow. He is likely to be de-registered. Line scores

       1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Tigers 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 3  7 1
Carp   0 2 0 0 3 0 0 4 X 9 16 0

Starting lineups

1. Akahoshi (Centre)
2. Hirano (Second)
3. Arai (First)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Katsuragi (Right)
6. Toritani (Short)
7. Yano (Catcher)
8. Sekimoto (Third)
9. Atchison (Pitcher)

Carp
1. Akamatsu (Centre)
2. Amaya (Left)
3. Alex (Right)
4. Kurihara (Right)
5. Seabol (Third)
6. Kokubo (Second)
7. Ishihara (Catcher)
8. Soyogi (Short)
9. Lewis (Pitcher)

In his previous appearance Lewis had done well against the Tigers until Brown tried to pitch him an innings to far. This time Lewis would also do well but without the handicap of being overpitched. He started in the same shaky way though with Akahoshi getting on base but this time with a hit. Hirano bunted him to second but Arai and Kanemoto both did nothing and the innings ended scoreless. Atchison gave up a hit to Amaya but otherwise had no problems with the first innings either. In the Tigers second Toritani had his first hit of the night and then tried to steal second. As is the rule of these things he was thrown out. The innings ended with a Yano strike out. The Carp second started quietly with Seabol grounding out. Then Atchison messed up a Kokubo ground out and Carp had a runner on second base. Atchison then balked and there was a runner on third. Soyogi was walked to get at Lewis and then Atchison threw an abysmal pitch which Lewis had no problem hitting over Hirano for a two base hit 2-0 Carp. This should not have happened and is indicative of Atchisons recent pitching. For Tigers third Akahoshi hit again and then stole second but Hirano struck out to end the chance. Atchison's third innings was as uninspiring as his second but he didn't give up any runs. Kurihara hit and then made third on a Seabol two base but with two outs the next batter, Kokubo grounded out to end the chance.

The Tigers fourth was quiet but in the Carp version Ishihara hit and then reached second on a Soyogi ground out. This was as far as he got and the innings ended quietly. Tigers fifth was also quiet with the side being retired in order. The Carp fifth was anytbing but quiet. By now Atchison had no control, the leadoff batter Amaya had a two base hit, runner on second no outs. Next batter Alex, he had a two base hit 3-0 Carp, runner on second no outs. Next batter Kurihara - another two base hit 4-0 Carp, runner on second no outs. At this stage Atchison was removed because of his elbow problem. He had thrown 86 pitches and would give up five runs. One has to ask whether he is up to first team pitching or whether his elbow is the problem. Abe was summoned and faced runners on first and second with no outs. He gave up a hit to Kokubo 5-0 Carp but then got the next three batters to end the innings. Tigers sixth was quiet as was Carp's sixth which was once again pitched by Abe. Lewis' last innings was Tigers seventh and once again he had no problems. This time Brown did not try and over pitch him and he retired having given up no runs, no walks, only 3 hits and having struck out 7. An excellent performance. Carp's seventh was taken by Sugiyama who would be poor. He gave up a hit to Kurihara and then needed a double play to get out of the innings.

For Tigers eighth Brown selected Kozlowski who gave up a hit to Toritani. He then balked and Toritani moved to second. Baldris (replacement Third) hit a two base to right for his first RBI 5-1 Carp. Kozlowski exited to be replaced by Hayashi. The next batters Imaoka (pinch hitter) and Akahoshi failed to do anything and the innings ended. And so to the Carp eighth where Sugiyama really blew it. He started with a hit to the leadoff Ishihara. The next batter Soyogi flew out but Go Kida (pinch hitter) hit to put runners on first and second. Then Akamatsu hit bases loaded. Sugiyama got Amaya to strike out which ended the chance of sacrifice fly but then went to pieces. Alex hit 6-1 Carp bases loaded. Kurihara hit 8-1 Carp runners on first and third. Seabol hit 9-1 Carp runners on first and second. Kokubo flew out to end the innings. To say Sugiyama was in the doghouse would be an understatement. Okada was furious and so he should be. Tigers were facing the rather weak Carp relief and he had scuppered any chance of victory.

The Tigers ninth started with Hirano taking a dead ball. Arai did nothing and then Kanemoto stepped up to the plate in the pouring rain. He hit his 400th home run to right (a two run affair) 9-3 Carp. Of course he was honoured with a presentation but it would not alther the result. Hiyama (pinch hitter) struck out and Toritani hit but the last batter Yano grounded out to short and Carp had won.

An impressive Carp victory helped by fine pitching by Lewis and some good batting. Poor pitching by Atchison and Sugiyama had doomed Tigers. Sugiyama in particular was terrible and there is talk that he may not last much longer in the first team.