May 29th Kubo v Kawai - Kanemoto and the victory hit

This game was played in appalling conditions - it rained throughout the match and so the low score can be excused. Once again Rakuten went with a left handed pitcher who did quite well until the seventh when his stamina deserted him. However, until then he had been in complete control with a perfect game between the second and sixth innings. So Tigers can count themselves lucky but they do need some luck to go their way at times. Scores

               1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Tigers         0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 5 1
Golden Eagles  1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 5 0

Starting lineups

Tigers
1. Murton (Right)
2. Hirano (Second)
3. Toritani (Short)
4. Arai (Third)
5. Kanemoto (DH)
6. Johjima (Catcher)
7. Brazell (First)
8. Ryota Arai (Left)
9. Shunsuke (Centre)

Starting pitcher: Kubo

Golden Eagles
1. Hijirisawa (Centre)
2. Teppei (Right)
3. Matsui (Short)
4. Yamasaki (DH)
5. Nakamura (Left)
6. Yokogawa (First)
7. Kusano (Third)
8. Shima (Catcher)
9. Uchimura (Second)

Starting pitcher; Kawai

Once again Rakuten went with a left handed starter and once again it was effective up to a point. Tigers batters struggled all match even though they did eventually win. Rakuten are a poor side - they lack talent and only the fact that the Tigers are also poor allowed them to dominate so much of the game. Tigers had started well with Murton leading off with a hit. He was bunted to second by Hirano and made third on Toritani's ground out. Next was Arai who tried to drive over Kawai but didn't get the height and lined out to end the chance. Kubo didn't start the game well either giving up a hit to Hijirisawa. Teppei flew out and then Matsui hit to centre to set up runners on first and second. Yamasaki flew out to Hirano which brought up Nakamura. He dug a low pitch out and placed it very nicely in the gap between left and centre for a two base hit 1-0 Rakuten, runners on second and third. Yokogawa hit to centre to try and continue the rally but only managed to fly out and end the innings. Then Tigers froze - they just couldn't cope with Kawai. Both Brazell and Johjima struck out in the second with Brazell striking out looking. He looked totally fooled and clueless not even swinging. Fortunately for Tigers Kubo recovered well after his first innings and also threw some nice stuff keeping Rakuten off base in the second. Tigers third was quiet with Murton being the final out, lining out to Matsui at short. Rakuten's third started with an error. Hijirisawa swung and hit poorly straight to Hirano who missed a straightforward take. Hijirisawa was able to beat the throw to make first safely. Teppei bunted him to second - Kubo having to pick up and make the tag himself. Matsui walked and things looked rather threatening. However, Yamasaki hit straight to Toritani for an easy 6-4-3 double play and Tigers had escaped the danger.

Tigers fourth saw everyone ground out to Matsui. Nakamura started the Golden Eagles fourth by grounding out to Kubo who managed to deal with the situation quite well. The next two batters flew out and that was that. Tigers fifth was also a quiet innings with Johjima striking out rather foolishly to a pitch he should have left. Rakuten's fifth saw Hijirisawa put a two base into left centre with two outs but Teppei grounded out to end that chance. Tigers sixth and more strike outs this time Ryota Arai and Murton. The complement was returned in Rakuten's sixth with Yamasaki and Nakamura striking out swinging to some nice pitching.

Tigers seventh and we had the fanfare and jetto ritual before the innings. It is nice to see the stadium allowing this but they don't allow trumpets. This rather makes the fan chearing a bit subdued and seems to be one of those petty restrictions beloved of officialdom. Anyway Kawai returned and no doubt was beginning to think of a complete game and why not? He had allowed only one base runner and had completely dominated the batting. He started Tigers seventh well getting the first two outs before facing Arai. The Tigers third played around a bit before hitting into centre for a base hit. Next was Kanemoto who is rather poor and certainly no number five batter now. However, Kawai was tiring rapidly and with the count 1-1 left his third pitch nicely sitting in the middle of the zone. Of course Kanemoto latched onto it driving it nicely into the right stand for a two run home run 2-1 Tigers. Kawai was totally stunned and Satoh the Golden Eagles pitching coach came out to have a chat. It didn't help, Kawai gave up a hit to Johjima and then one to Brazell - runners on first and second. This was enough for Hoshino who replaced his starter with Mima (another left hander). He faced Hiyama (pinch hitting for Ryota Arai) but Hiyama could only ground out to first and the innings was over. Tigers had the lead though and could be rather happy with the reversal. Rakuten needed to bounce back in their seventh but could only surrender tamely and no one made base. After the excitement of the seventh Tigers eighth reverted to quiet mode but Mima did have to work hard for his three outs. Kubo returned for Rakuten's eighth. There were two reasons for this move, his pitch count was low and Mayumi doesn't trust his relief. The first out fell but then Hijirisawa hit to Kubo who tried to field but could only deflect the ball, slowing it down. Toritani was backing up but was unable to get the throw to Brazell before Hijirisawa made it safely to first. Kubo stayed cool and retired the next two batters to end the innings. Katayama pitched Tigers ninth and walked Kanemoto in four but with two outs Tigers would have to work hard to add to the score. Uemoto was sent on to pinch run for Kanemoto and he stole second. However, Johjima flew out to left and the chance was missed. For Rakuten's ninth Fujikawa took the mound. His pitching was strange. The first out was a strike out but then with Nakamura at the plate, Johjima called for Fujikawa to drop his pitches. Fujikawa did so ad nauseum - almost everything was below the zone and this led to him walking Yokogawa. Rakuten fans started to get excited especially as Fujikawa threw a series of balls at Kusano. However, Kusano went for the big hit and flew out to left to end the innings. Tigers victory.

A close victory but at least it was a win. Tigers still aren't firing and one has to hope that they will follow the pattern taken by the Dragons last season with a late charge after the inter-league finishes. We cannot realistically expect a good inter-league performance as their opponents are going to fill the bullpens with left handers. The save was Fujikawa's ninth with the victory going to Kubo. He had pitched well and had deserved his win.