June 6th Messenger v Makita - Another sayonara

Seibu blew it again - a tiring pitcher in the ninth and a sayonara chance for Tigers. It was well taken by Murton and was an example of the games Tigers need to win to stay in contention. Lions need to think very carefully about their tactics though and their pitching staff. For Tigers Messenger's pitch count is still too high and the seventh was an unnecessary innings. He needs a few games around 100 or under pitches to rest his arm a bit. If, as looks likely, Tigers make the playoffs a fit and healthy Messenger will be essential. Over-pitching early in the season will not bring this situation into reality. Scores

        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9  R H E
Lions   0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0  1 8 1
Tigers  1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1x 2 7 0

Lions
1. Akiyama (Centre)
2. Kataoka (Second)
3. Kuriyama (Left)
4. Asamura (First)
5. German (Third)
6. Ohsaki (Right)
7. Onizaki (Short)
8. Sumitani (Catcher)
9. Makita (Pitcher)

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

Fujii was dropped back down to a more logical position for this game after the brainstorm that afflicted Wada the game before. Imanari took his place which was more logical as Imanari has considerably more pop. He isn't particularly likely to hit but when he does it is often far. Messenger rapidly ran into trouble walking Kataoka with one out. Still he got out of it nicely retiring the next two batters. Tigers started with a Nishioka single to centre. Yamato failed miserably with his bunt attempt flying out to Makita. Makita tried to pick off Nishioka with a throw to first but missed and Nishioka was able to make second. Next was Toritani who hit nicely to right centre - the sweet spot to bring in Nishioka 1-0 Tigers, runner on second. Murton and Arai couldn't do anything though but Tigers had gained a nice lead. Messenger didn't seem comfortable though and once again with one out Seibu got a runner - this time Ohsaki who singled with one out in the second. Onizaki singled to second and despite Nishioka's efforts Ohsaki was able to make third with Onizaki on first. Sumitani was next and attempted a squeeze - at least I think that was the goal. Anyway the ball rolled nicely to Messenger who threw to second to initiate an innings ending double play. Tigers defence was good. Tigers second saw a Makita pitch go astray and hit Ryota - runner on first with one out. Fujii singled to centre putting runners on first and second and then Messenger tried to bunt. This didn't quite work - Sumitani who took the ball threw to third for the force out leaving Fujii on second and Messenger on first. Nishioka then grounded out to second. Kataoka got on base again in Lions third - this time a two out single to right. With two balls pitched to Kuriyama he tried to steal second but was out to end the innings. Tigers third saw Murton single right with two out - he at least didn't try to steal but Arai who is becalmed on 999 RBIs flew out.

Lions fourth and they finally broke through. Kuriyama grounded out to short but then Asamura homered for the second game in a row - this time a solo 1-1 scores tied. German singled to centre but Ohsaki and Onizaki could only fly out and he didn't advance beyond first. Tigers fourth was quiet with Imanari not really making any impact at sixth so far. Trouble seemed to be brewing in Lions fifth though as Sumitani led off with a double to left centre. Makita bunted him to third and then Akiyama flew out. Lions hesitated and didn't attempt the sacrifice particularly as aggressive defence by Yamato made it risky. Next was Kataoka and this time he grounded out to short. Tigers fifth was quiet though - whilst Messenger was working quite hard, Makita was having a rather easy mid game period. With two out in Lions sixth another runner got on base, this being German who singled off a pitch straight down the middle. The next piece of action was embarrassing, German stole second. Fujii's arm really isn't very good. Ohsaki was next and hit a cracking line drive to left but a fine jumping catch by Toritani dismissed him and ended the innings. Tigers finally broke their barren period of no runners with Toritani leading off the sixth with a line drive to left. Almost as if after the catch he was saying ' here, this is how you do it'. Murton hit into a double play though and then Arai flew out to end the innings.

Messenger shouldn't have really pitched Lions seventh but did so. He struck out Kimura (pinch hitter) after a struggle but found Sumitani and Makita easier meat and retired them quickly. Imanari led off Tigers seventh with a single to left. He was pinch run for Shibata who also replaced him at right. Ryota struck out swinging and then Wada had Fujii bunt - this is clueless management of the first order. It would be wiser to have Fujii try and hit. The idea though is that by bunting you appear to take action and the appearance is important not the likely outcome. Hiyama was next but this time he grounded out to the pitcher to end the innings. Katoh took over for Lions eighth. He did well retiring the batters in order which was an important innings for Tigers. Tigers eighth was quiet as well though - the game was looking more and more like extra innings or a sayonara game. Lions didn't seem to have the ability to score and had stopped getting runners on. Fukuhara took over the pitching for Lions ninth. Here Wada was showing better sense than Watanabe. Even though Messenger had been in too long he had been replaced by the relief in time. Makita was still struggling away for the Lions. Fukuhara struck out Asamura and German but then gave up a single to Ohsaki. Yamasaki (replacement short) was next but he could only ground out to Toritani to end the innings. Tigers ninth and the lead off batter was Murton facing a tiring Makita. Murton's first pitch was a slider at which he swung and missed. This caused him to change his bat and this had the desired result. The next pitch was also a slow slider - 117 kmh which Murton got hold of and hammered over the fence in the left stand for a solo sayonara home run 2-1 Tigers and victory.

It had been Murton's first sayonara home run in Japan and was certainly welcome. The win went to Fukuhara. Lions had been tactically poor this game and Tigers had shown very good patience and defence to ensure that the chance was available. Tigers take the series against the Lions 3-1 but as the Giants also won stay in second place but only by a small margin.