October 7th Nohmi v Kenta Maeda - A vital win

Craig Brazell, the hero of yesterday's game will be asked back for next season. Tigers will look for backup, though, in case his injury problems intervene. This will probably come from South America rather than North given the lack of success at identifying players. Baldris is not likely to figure in the equation and Tigers are thinking of trading him. Yano's season is over as when he slid into Kawamoto he broke his right ankle and will need at least six weeks to recover. His return was not successful and even though he worked with two of the poorer performers in the side (Andoh and Shimoyanagi) his own performance was not encouraging. Time to pension him off?

This game was a nice solid victory which Tigers had to win and did so comfortably. Played in very wet conditions Tigers batters produced the big hits when needed and Nohmi pitched very well. We saw more Mayumi panic in the seventh and even though it all worked out well for a moment it looked like he had blown the game. Swallows who won one of their make up games remain 0.5 games behind the Tigers. Scores

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Tigers  0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 2 5 13 1
Carp    0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1  6 1

Starting lineups

Tigers
1. Hirano (Centre)
2. Sekimoto (Second)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Kanemoto (First)
5. Arai (Third)
6. Brazell (First)
7. Sakurai (Right)
8. Kanoh (Catcher)
9. Nohmi (Pitcher)

Carp
1. Higashide (Second)
2. Akamatsu (Centre)
3. Amaya (Right)
4. Kurihara (First)
5. Hirose (Left)
6. Kokubo (Third)
7. Ishii (Short)
8. Ishihara (Catcher)
9. Kenta Maeda

Sekimoto produced a hit in Tigers first but nothing came of this. Nohmi was nervous in the Carp's first and with one out gave up a left hit to Akamatsu. Kurihara hit to centre to set up runners on first and second but then Hirose grounded out to short to end the innings. Kanemoto led off Tigers second with a hit and made second on Brazell's ground out but Sakurai failed to convert. In the bottom, Nohmi found his rythym and retired the batters in order. Tigers third saw Hirano hit but then Sekimoto failed to convert him. With two out in Carp's third Akamatsu swung foolishly at a wild pitch but recovered enough to make first as it was the third strike. He then tried too steal second but was thrown out by a nice piece of work from Kanoh to end the innings.

Up until now Maeda had pitched quite well and shown some of the control he had had over Tigers batters in the past. This deserted him and he ran into deep problems. Toritani led off Tigers fourth with a two base hit to left. Kanemoto struck out but then Arai hit a two base along the right baseline driving home Toritani 1-0 Tigers, runner on second. Brazell launched into his second pitch and hit an enormous home run to right 3-0 Tigers. Sakurai walked and then Kanoh hit, an infield dribble which allowed him to make first and set up runners on first and second. Nohmi was next and unlike his previous heroics was only able to hit into a double play to end the innings. Amaya promptly led off Carp's fourth with a hit but then Kurihara hit into a double play. Finally, HIrose swung too early and flew out to second. Maeda dead balled Sekimoto in Tigers fifth. The latter made second on Toritani's ground out but Kanemoto flew out to end the innings. Ishihara hit to centre in Carp's fifth but nothing came of this either. Arai led off Tigers sixth with a two base. Here was a genuine chance to score. Brazell struck out looking though but Sakurai hit to left. This set up runners on first and second but neither Kanoh or Nohmi could drive the runner home and the innings was scoreless. Nohmi's control temporarily deserted him in the sixth and he walked Higashide. Akamatsu hit into foul ground and Kanoh pulled off a quite incredible catch tumbling over the railing of the spectators enclosure as he did so. Higashide though was able to make second, scant reward for some very brave fielding. Amaya struck out but then Kurihara grounded out to third. Arai's throw was terrible though missing first and allowing Higashide to make home 3-1 Tigers, runner on first. Nohmi didn't let this affect him and retired Hirose with a ground out to first to end the innings.

Shinoda replaced Maeda for Tigers seventh. The latter hadn't really been that good and was maybe showing signs of being tired. Shinoda had a great innings striking out all three batters he faced swinging. Atchison pitched Carp's seventh and this was a bit of a surprise. Nohmi had pitched very well and had another innings in him (he had only thrown 81 pitches). He had given up four hits and walked only one and the run scored hadn't been his fault. Furthermore, it was the bottom of the Carp batting order - hardly the most dangerous batters in the league. The decision meant that Atchison or Fujikawa would have to throw two innings. One has to say it had an element of panic in it as well. Atchison was efficient retiring all three batters in order. Shinoda returned for Tigers eighth and here we would see another result of Mayumi's decision to replace Nohmi. Kanemoto led off the innings with a hit. Arai flew out but Brazell hit to set up runners on first and second. Shinoda was replaced by Yokoyama who walked Sakurai to load the bases. Kanoh struck out trying to hit a deep fly and here Mayumi had to make a decision. A pinch hitter or Atchison. If he had left Nohmi in (and likely Carp would not have scored) the pinch hitter would have been used and there was a good chance of a score. Because he had to pitch Atchison for two innings he couldn't use that chance and wasted the opportunity. Atchison struck out of course to end the innings. Atchison faced Kida Go (pinch hitter) in Carp's eighth and gave up a hit. Higashide hit into a double play and then Akamatsu grounded out to end the innings. It had all worked out but you couldn't help feeling that the endgame had once again been mishandled. Kojima pitched Tigers ninth and gave up a hit to Sekimoto. Next batter was Toritani who stroked his 20th home run of the season 5-1 Tigers - the first time he has reached that milestone and a considerable improvement in his long ball game. The next two batters failed to do anything and the innings was over. Fujikawa pitched the Carp's ninth and in such an important game it was justified to use him in a non-save situation. He retired the first two batters but then gave up a two base hit to Hirose. This didn't make any difference to the eventual result as Kokubo flew out to short to end the game. Tigers victory.

A vital victory which kept the Tigers in third. The Tigers final two games are against Swallows and to ensure third place Tigers must win both. Pitchers are due to be Andoh and Iwata. Andoh is the worry but he should be paired with Kanoh and this might make a difference. If Tigers split this series 1-1 then they have to rely on the Swallows losing one of their final two games against the Dragons and Giants. An exciting finish is guaranteed.