8/26/09 – Hiroshima (Away)
August 26th, 2009
Tokyo Yakult Swallows 1
Streak: Lost 1 Last : WLLWL
(Mazda Stadium)
After a brief respite yesterday with a solid Tateyama start and timely hitting earning a comfortable enough win for the Swallows, normal August service was resumed this evening as Tokyo stunk up Hiroshima’s shiny new stadium.
Ryo Kawashima, obviously noticing how bad things have been going lately, thought he’d pitch-in with his first start this month. And frankly he was bad. Really bad. Ryo worked 4 innings, giving up 9 runs off 9 hits with 4 walks and 2 Ks.
Today’s lineup saw the same group of players as yesterday on the field with the exception of at first base, as Takeuchi replaced Hatakeyama in the no.4 slot.
In truth the game was over almost from the off, as Hiroshima added three runs in each of the first two innings, with outfielder Andy Phillips bringing home four of the runs (his two run shot in the 1st inning got the ball rolling), 6-0 Hiroshima.
Three more followed off just one hit in the 4th, Kurihara following up two walks with a blast to left which made it 9-0.
That was it for Ryo Kawashima as he would end up taking the loss for his evening’s “work” to put his record at 5-6/4.81, his ERA up from 3.91 after this horror show. Lots of balls left up in the zone combined with a ton in the dirt do not a good start make.
Matsui (4.50) relieved Ryo to pitch the 5th and 6th innings, giving up two runs off two hits and a walk in the second of those innings. The run-scoring play was notable for Aoki making a complete hash of an attempt to make a sliding catch of Hirose’s flyball (ie completely missing it and letting the ball roll on to the warning track), which with men on the corners and two outs, allowed the bases to be cleared as Hirose made it to third, 11-0 Hiroshima.
Takagi (0.00) then made his second appearance of the year, pitching the 7th and 8th innings to the tune of no runs off two hits.
So, with Ryo doing his best impression of a bad high-school pitcher, Hiroshima starter Kenta Maeda showed him how it should be done, pitching what was very nearly a complete game shutout. He gave up seven hits over the distance, striking about six and walking a couple, with Tokyo’s only run coming via an Aaron Guiel solo homer (no.18 for the year) with one out in the 9th.
Tokyo couldn’t generate any momentum off him, and didn’t manage to get two men on base in an inning until the 6th as Maeda gave up just four hits throughout the first 8 innings. And when they did get men on, as when Ryo Kawashima singled with one out in the 3rd, Takada’s idiot gene often kicked in, with Keizo being asked to bunt the pitcher to second for out number two before Fukuchi flew-out to end the inning. And this was while down 6-0. The remaining three hits including Guiel’s homer came in the 9th as the Hiroshima starter tired. 11-1 Final.
The only “bright” spots with the bat were Tanaka (.285) who went 2 for 4, and backup catcher Yoneno who went 2 for 2 as he subbed for Aikawa late in the game.
Tokyo will try again to earn their first series win of the month tomorrow night in their final game of the Carp series before travelling back to Jingu for a daunting series against the Dragons.
