August 26th Iwata v Satoh - Yano is back

The big news of course is that Arai has a stress fracture of one of his vertibrae. He will rest for a week and then if fit may return. Okada has no intention of hurrying him back and if Arai needs to be out for the rest of the season so be it. Akahoshi has now played in his 1000th game in NPB which is a nice milestone to reach. The Magic number is now 28 (CM is 22). Line scores

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

Starting lineups

1. Akahoshi (Centre)
2. Hirano (Second)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Lin (Right)
6. Sekimoto (Third)
7. Vogelsong (First)
8. Noguchi (Catcher)
9. Iwata (Pitcher)

Dragons
1. Ibata (Short)
2. Araki (Second)
3. Lee (Right)
4. Woods (First)
5. Nakamura (Third)
6. Morino (Left)
7. Koike (Centre)
8. Tanishige (Catcher)
9. Satoh (Pitcher)

Another Okada game - Katsuragi actually started at first. Iwata would start by using a lot of pitches (24 in the first innings) but would settle down and throw very well. He gave up a hit to Lee with two outs but then struck out Woods who is not that effective this year. Satoh (who wouldn't pitch badly) started by giving up a walk to Akahoshi. He stole second and advanced to third on Hirano's ground out. Tigers had two chances to drive him home but failed to convert them - see what I mean about Satoh not pitching badly. Dragons second was quiet with the batters falling in order as Iwata found his rhythm. Tigers second saw Sekimoto hit to left but nothing developed from this and the innings ended scoreless. In the Dragons third Iwata surprised everyone by giving up a hit to Satoh with one out but Ibata and Araki were ineffective and the bonus wasn't cashed in. In Tigers third Hirano waited, chose his moment and hit. Unfortunately, he didn't get beyond first.

Dragons developed their first threat in their fourth. It started with a Lee hit. Well, it was ruled a hit - it flew to left and Kanemoto stooped to take it low down but misjudged it and the ball bounced off his wrist. It wasn't an easy take but it should have been called an error as it was possible. Woods flew out but then Nakamura hit and Lee motored round to third. Iwata had two outs to get - he responded superbly. Morino struck out and then Koike flew out to left and the threat was over. Perhaps this woke the Tigers up - Kanemoto hammered out a first hit. Woods was standing behind the base and took the ball but his throw to Satoh arrived away from the base and Kanemoto beat the step for safety. Lin was next and slammed the first pitch he faced into the right stand for a home run 2-0 Tigers. The next three batters though fell easily and the question was would Iwata protect his lead? The answer was yes. He retired the Dragons batters in order and the action moved to the Tigers fifth. This saw Hirano's second hit but once again Toritani failed to convert him.

Iwata gave up his third hit in a row to Lee in Dragons sixth but otherwise was untroubled. The bottom was quiet with the batters falling in order. Iwata returned for the seventh, Okada obviously being confident that he would be OK. The first out was Morino and then Iwata dead balled Koike and walked Delarosa (pinch hitter), he seemed to be tired. Hirata (pinch hitter) grounded out next but the runners moved round to second and third. Ibata was next but he snatched at a high pitch and flew out to Sekimoto - end of innings and end of danger. Ochiai decided that Satoh was finished for the evening and brought in Nagamine who retired the Tigers in order. For his last batter he faced Yano (replacement catcher) who was back from the Olympics. Tigers pitcher for the eighth was Kubota. He was very effective - the most effective he's been for a long time. It took him only nine pitches to dispose of the top of the Dragons order.

Nagamine returned for the Tigers eighth and with one out inexplicably decided to dead ball Hirano. He would pay for that as Toritani hit to put runners on first and second. Next batter Kanemoto who chose a spot between left and centre for his hit. Hirano was home and Toritani showed wonderful speed round the bases to also make home 4-0 Tigers. The ball went to Tanishige who threw to third as Kanemoto tried to make the hit into a three base. He was tagged out at the base but with a big smile on his face - the game was really out of Dragons reach now. Next batter Lin hit but Sekimoto flew out and the innings was over. Williams pitched the Dragons ninth and faced Nakamura. He hit towards Toritani who missed the take in what was judged an error and Nakamura was safe. Williams was a lot more sound this innings and then struck out Morino. Koike grounded out before Shimizu (replacement catcher) struck out to end the game - Tigers victory.

Tigers winning streak is now five games and this was a good victory. Dragons had been outplayed and shut down efficiently by some fine pitching by Iwata. Tigers batters had hit when needed and scored at just the right time. In this game the Dragons had really looked like they had no response.