September 22nd Ishikawa v Yoshimi - Ishikawa's first game

First the Arai news. He has completed indoor rehabilitation and training and is ready to start outdoor training. This is scheduled to begin on Thursday (24th) and there are hopes he will be able to play again before the end of the season. Tigers pitcher was Ishikawa, their third round draft pick from the 2008 College/Industrial Draft. There had been a lot of talk about bringing him up and finally it happened. His performance was nice but lacking in stamina - still he picked up his first win. Tigers finally beat the BayStars something they hadn't accomplished since August 2nd and the result was tighter than it needed to be but a win is a win. This win kept them tied for first place with the Giants. Line scores

         1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
BayStars 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 2  5 1
Tigers   1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 X 3 10 2

Starting lineups

1. Akahoshi (Centre)
2. Sekimoto (Second)
3. Imaoka (Third)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Toritani (Short)
6. Takahashi (First)
7. Yano (Catcher)
8. Asai (Right)
9. Ishikawa (Pitcher)

BayStars
1. Kinjoh (Centre)
2. Takuro Ishii (Short)
3. Uchikawa (First)
4. Murata (Third)
5. Yoshimura (Right)
6. Saeki (Left)
7. Fujita (Second)
8. Takeyama (Catcher)
9. Yoshimi (Pitcher)

Ishikawa would start well - the first two batters falling to a ground out and fly out and Uchikawa also falling to a ground out. This turned out to be an Imaoka error and Uchikawa was safe on first. Ishikawa kept his nerve and struck out Murata looking to end the innings. Yoshimi didn't start well - he gave up a hit to Akahoshi who then stole second. Sekimoto walked and Tigers had runners on first and second with no outs. Next batter, Imaoka hit and Akahoshi burned home 1-0 Tigers runners on first and second. Unfortunately the next three batters did nothing - once again Kanemoto failing to hit with runners on. Both Toritani and Takahashi snatched at their pitches and both flew out in foul ground. Maybe a word from the coaches here. Yokohama's second was quiet with the side being retired in order. Tigers second was more lively. With one out Asai (in what would be a surprisingly good game for him) hit. Ishikawa bunted him to second which brought up Akahoshi. He walked and then Sekimoto stepped up to the plate. He hit a deep two base which hit the fence just below the home run line for a two base hit. Both Asai and Akahoshi were home 3-0 Tigers and Yoshimi was looking distinctly shaky. These RBIs were Sekimoto's 50th and 51st RBIs of the season and it is the first time in his professional career that Sekimoto has reached 50 RBIs.

BayStars third saw their first hit - a Kinjoh shot to left. Nothing came of this though. Tigers fourth saw Toritani and then Takahashi hit to set up runners on first and second with one out. Nothing came of this as both Yano and Asai failed to do anything. Really, Tigers batters need to do more - a three run lead isn't untouchable. This was demonstrated clearly in the BayStars fourth. With one out Murata hit to centre. Yoshimura then blasted a two run home run to left 3-2 Tigers. They next two batters didn't do anything and the innings ended with Tigers maintaining a slim lead. In Tigers fourth Sekimoto was able to reach second on a Murata error but it was Imaoka's turn to snatch at a pitch and fly out in foul ground to end the innings. BayStars fifth proved to be Ishikawa's biggest test. He gave up a lead off hit to Takeyama. He was bunted to second by Yoshimi and then Kinjoh walked. Takura Ishii flew out but the runners remained on first and second. This brought up Uchikawa who Ishikawa walked to load the bases. Finally he faced Murata whom he had to get out. With the count at 2 and 1 he sent a straight fastball right through the middle of the zone which Murata totally failed to read. Strike out and end of innings. A willingness to take on batters had ensured that Ishikawa had retained the lead for Tigers.

Tigers fifth saw Kanemoto lead off with a fly out but then Toritani hit a two base to centre. Once again no one converted him and the innings ended scoreless. Okada decided that it was time to replace Ishikawa - he had pitched well but shouldn't be over pitched. Atchison took the mound for the sixth. He walked Fujita with two outs but then Fujita tried to steal second and was thrown out, end of innings. Tigers sixth started with an Asai hit. He was bunted to second by Hirano (replacement second) and then Akahoshi hit to left. Once again a Tigers batter was held up on third and not allowed to go for home. Asai is quite quick and shouldn't have been stopped. This though was the end of Yoshimi who hadn't pitched particularly well but had kept the score to only three runs. He was replaced by Yokoyama who faced Sekimoto. Sekimoto grounded out to third and Asai went for home only to be tagged out. Tigers still had runners on first and second but Imaoka struck out and no score resulted. Atchison returned for the BayStars seventh and walked Suzuki (pinch hitter) with no outs. He was bunted to second by Ishikawa (replacement short) but there he stayed as Atchison struck out the next two batters to end the innings.

Yuya Ishii pitched the Tigers seventh and had no problems retiring the batters in order. The surprise of the eighth was the appearance of Fujikawa as this meant he was going to pitch two innings. Clearly Okada had no one else he felt he could rely on and the victory was essential. He gave up a one out hit to Murata but was more than up to that challenge, getting the next two batters to fly out and end the innings. Yuya Ishii was replaced by Yamaguchi for the Tigers eighth and ran into trouble. With two out he walked Hirano who stole second. Again Akahoshi hit but Hirano was held up on left - if you don't let your fast runners try for home who will you let? Akahoshi then stole second and Tigers had runners on second and third. Sekimoto was next but grounded out for another chance wasted. It was extremely unlikely that the BayStars were going to beat Fujikawa but more of a cushion would have been nice. Anyway Fujikawa started the BayStars ninth in fine style retiring the first two batters. Ishikawa hit a ground ball to Hirano but he fluffed it allowing the BayStars short to reach first. Ishikawa then stole second and amazingly Kinjoh was deliberately walked. This was unnecessary in the extreme but showed how ultra cautious the Tigers were being. Saitoh (replacement catcher) was next and he flew out to Hirano who didn't drop this one. Tigers victory.

The scoreline was close but Tigers had dominated the game. The batting had been good early in the game but had failed to take advantage of several good chances which would have put the game out of the BayStars reach. The pitching had been very good and Ishikawa had picked up his first win on his first outing. Fujikawa had picked up his 34th save and Atchison had demonstrated that his meltdown against the Giants was just a flash in the pan. My main memory though is Ishikawa's audacious fast straightball to strike out Murata to end the fifth. If he continues to pitch like that he has a great career ahead of him.