5/9/10 – Chunichi (Away)

Tokyo wasted no time in getting in the face of Chunichi starter Asakura, with four runs in the top of the 1st. Fukuchi and Tanaka got things rolling with back-to-back singles to put men on the corners for Aoki. He grounded out to short but it was enough to score Fukuchi for 1-0 Tokyo. The under-fire duo of D’Antona and Guiel then lent their assistance in a big way. First D’Antona hit one over the wall in right (no.7 for the year) for 3-0 Tokyo. Guiel then hit one to pretty much the exact same spot (no.10 for the year) and Muranaka found himself with a 4-0 lead before he’d even thrown a pitch.

As if to prove that the top of the 1st was no fluke, four more runs followed in the 3rd, this time off reliever Shimizu. Tanaka led off with a single before Aoki flew out for out number one. D’Antona worked a walk and the Guiel poked one up the middle to score Tanaka and leave men on first and second, 5-0 Tokyo. Miyamoto loaded the bases with an infield single before Fujimoto did the real damage with a base clearing double to left to make it 8-0 Tokyo.

And the final Tokyo run came in the 4th, D’Antona bringing home his third run of the day with a sacrifice fly to centre that saw Fukuchi score, 9-0 Tokyo.

Muranaka finished his 7 innings largely untroubled, throwing 114 pitches and giving up just 3 hits, striking out 5, walking 3 and hitting 1 man for good measure. His excellent outing earned him the win to put his record at 3-4/3.27.

Matsuoka (1.32) did allow two men on base in his 8th inning stint, but got out of it unscathed. Which brought up Lim (1.00) for a rare outing in the 9th (his 9th appearance of the year), and he made light work of it, sitting down the final three Chunichi batters in order to wrap things up for a 9-0 Tokyo Final.

The Swallows outhit the Dragons 13-4 with Tanaka, Guiel and Fujimoto getting 2 hits each. D’Antona and Fujimoto each had 3 RBIs, Guiel had 2 and Aoki the 1.

Hopefully this performance will light a fire in Tokyo’s belly and they will go into the Interleague schedule with renewed optimism and confidence. They have two days off before taking on the Orix Buffaloes for two games from Wednesday (the Interleague series are each two games, with each team playing the other for a series home and away).

Hopefully the change in opposition will see a change in Tokyo’s fortunes, but today was a good start. Onwards and upwards.