July 6th Messenger v Sawamura - Messenger makes a mess

Kanemoto damaged his lower back in the seventh and had to be replaced. The prognosis is not particularly good for a speedy recovery though. We also saw Messenger and Imanari paired for the first time. It wasn't a success. Messenger supplied the upper and lower misses and Imanari took care of the inside and outside ones. Suffice to say the zone was neglected. Messenger was replaced after the second with the Giants in an unassailable lead. To be honest he should have been replaced after the first as it was obvious he wasn't going to pitch well. As a result Futagami got his first start in the top team. Not a bad first outing. Scores

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R  H E
Tigers  0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 3 12 0
Giants  4 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 X 6  8 1

Starting lineups

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

Giants
1. Chono (Centre)
2. Tani (Left)
3. Sakamoto (Short)
4. Murata (Third)
5. Abe (Catcher)
6. Takahashi (Right)
7. Edgar (First)
8. Furuki (Second)
9. Sawamura (Pitcher)

With no Yamato nor Shibata in the starting lineup it seems that Wada went for his version of power. Murton faced Sawamura who looked as smug as ever. No matter what happens to him he always has a smug and supercilious expression on his face. If the ball were to hit him between his legs no doubt he would maintain the same expression. However, he was effective and retired the Tigers batters in order. It went pear shaped for Messenger immediately. He was all over the place and Chono worked the count full before taking a walk. Tani bunted him to second - hey the Giants use pointless bunts as well. Anyone watching should have realised very rapidly that Messenger was in more than the normal amount of trouble. Sakamoto also walked on a full count - the zone was but a distant dream. Then Murata flew out to Brazell - maybe despite Messenger's problems Tigers would get out of this. Not so Abe stroked the ball into left field and Chono was home 1-0 Giants runners on first and second. Then Takahashi worked the count full and hit to left bringing in another run 2-0 Giants, runners on first and third. Edgar hit along the third baseline past the dive of Arai for another timely hit 3-0 Giants. Furuki was deliberately walked to load the bases and get at Sawamura. He then worked the count full and picked up a walk - oshidashi 4-0 Giants bases loaded. Finally, Chono hit to Brazell who was well positioned to take the ball for the out. Tigers second saw an attempt to get back into the game. First though both Arai and Kanemoto hit to third and grounded out. Brazell singled right and so did Ryota Arai - runners on first and second. Imanari blasted his first pitch into the glove of Murata to end the innings and the Giants were still comfortable. They made Tigers pay. Tani led off the Giants second with a big solo home run to left 5-0 Giants. Sakamoto flew out but Murata hit right. Abe struck out and Takahashi hit one deep to right. Murton went back and with his face almost on the wall jumped but couldn't take it. Murata raced round the bases to reach home 6-0 Giants, runner on second. Edgar hit to set up runners on first and third and luckily for Messenger, Furuki grounded out to him to end the innings. This would end what had been an abysmal outing for him. Uemoto pinch hit for Messenger at the start of the Tigers third but grounded out. Murton walked but then Hirano hit to Sakamoto for an innings ending double play. Futagami pitched Giants third and struck out Sawamura looking for his first out. However, his first real batter, Chono slammed a two base to left off his first pitch. Tani popped one up to third for the second out and then Sakamoto flew out to right. The Giants had been stopped.

With that hope in mind Tigers counter-attacked. Toritani singled and then Takahiro Arai also singled. Runners on first and second. Kanemoto struck out and Brazell hit to first. Edgar threw to second for the force out and then Sakamoto threw back to first only the throw was terrible. Edgar missed the take and Brazell was safe on first. Toritani used the error to reach home 6-1 Giants, runner on first. Ryota Arai then hit his first pitch into the glove of Furuki at second for the final out. Giants fourth saw Futagami control things well and get Giants 4-5-6 out without anyone getting on base. One can't really say that Sawamura was pitching that well. He was giving up hit after hit after hit but he was far better than Messenger. Imanari led off Tigers fifth with a single. Shibata (pinch hitter) hit a grounder to second which moved Imanari to second. However, Murton flew out to right and Hirano struck out swinging. Giants fifth was pitched by Tsuru. He too had difficulty with Imanari's outside line but had the ability to retire the batters in order. Tigers sixth and Toritani singled to right. With one out down Takahiro Arai swinging and putting the ball high into the infield. Abe went to take it as Edgar charged in to take it claiming it was his. The players collided but Edgar held onto the ball for the out. Abe gave Edgar a rather dirty look though. Kanemoto singled to centre to set up runners on first and second but then both Brazell and Ryota Arai struck out and the chance was gone. Chono drew a walk in Giants sixth and then stole second. Here things went wrong for the Giants. Tani hit a grounder to short and Chono set off Toritani though threw to Takahiro Arai to block the runner and Chono was sandwiched and run down by Hirano for the out. Tani reached first but could go no further and this had been a nice piece of fielding by the Tigers. Still two more outs to go and the second proved to be Sakamoto who flew out to right. Murata drew a walk to set up runners on second and third but then Abe hit to right and also flew out ending the Giants chance.

Sawamura returned for Tigers seventh and having already thrown over 100 pitches one felt it was an innings to far. So it proved. Imanari led off singling to second and beating the throw. Asai (pinch hitter) hit left over the infield. Then Murton singled to right to loade the bases. Sawamura was clearly tired as these three runners had taken all of 5 pitches. Hirano struck out looking to an inside pitch - a Giants zone pitch and these would bedevil the innings. Toritani drew a walk - oshidashi, 6-2 Giants, bases loaded. Takahiro Arai also struck out looking, this to an outside pitch which once again had Giants zone written all over it. This kind of dubious umpiring doesn't help the repuation of the Giants. Here Hara finally pulled his tired pitcher and brought on Yamaguchi. Wada had had Hiyama warming up but then switched him for Sekimoto. This was a big mistake and Sekimoto struck out swinging to end the innings. Katoh pitched Giants seventh and with one out walked Edgar. Furuki struck out swinging and then Kajimae (pinch hitter) flew out to left. For Tigers eighth we saw Nishimura. He got Brazell to fly out to centre and then walked Ryota Arai. Not to worry though as Imanari hit to Furuki for the innings ending double play. Watanabe pitched Giants eighth as the game moved into the final staged. This was a quick innings with all three batters flying out in six pitches. All batters got a ball and then swung at their first pitch and flew out. It was a nice innings by Watanbe. For Tigers ninth we saw Giants new 160 kph sensation, Mathieson who however did not throw that fast this innings. His first victim was Asai who struck out swinging. The same happened to Murton. Two Tigers down. HIrano though hit to Mathieson who fielded, half stopped the ball and fumbled badly allowing Hirano to take second. This was not somehow ruled the error it clearly was. Toritani was next and he drove into centre with Hirano racing home 6-3 Giants, runner on first. Next was Arai who avoided the Giants zone strike out but popped up to Murata at third to end the game. Giants victory.

The victory rested on Messenger's poor performance in the first 2 innings. Giants hadn't really done anything after those innings. Once again Tiger had double digit hits - 12 - and had taken the loss. They really do need to do something about their production. Wada has stated he wants to win 9 out the 12 games before the All Star break and take Tigers up to .500 again. His team will have to do much better if it is to do so. However, on the strength of this performance a win the next game is very possible as long as Nohmi holds up.