July 28th, 2010
Hiroshima Toyo Carp 2
Tokyo Swallows 12
Streak: Won 3 Last 5: LLWWW
(Jingu Stadium)
Extra base-hits were the order of the day as Tokyo banged out nine of them in their destruction of struggling Hiroshima.
- Aoki (CF)
- Tanaka (2B)
- Ihara (RF)
- Whitesell (1B)
- Hatakeyama (LF)
- Aikawa (C)
- Miyamoto (3B)
- Kawabata (SS)
- Ishikawa (P)
The Swallows took a 1st inning lead off Carp starter Imae as a walked Aoki was later brought home by a Whitesell double for 1-0 Tokyo.
After that it was Ishikawa’s turn to struggle as he gave up a run in each of the 2nd and 3rd innings off 5 hits and the Carp had themselves a 2-1 lead.
But from then on it was all Tokyo as the Swallows put up 3 runs in each of the 4th, 5th and 6th frames to put this one out of sight.
In the 4th, a Whitesell walk and a Miyamoto single set the table for Kawabata, who smacked one off the top of the wall in left for a two-run triple and it was 3-2 Tokyo. The next run came from the most unlikely of sources as pitcher Ishikawa hit one to the wall in rightfield for a double which made it 4-2.
In the 5th, a leadoff walk for Tanaka and a double from Ihara put two men in scoring positions for Whitesell, who hit another double to make it 6-2. A Hatakeyama single (who was replaced by pinch-runner Fukuchi), and two outs left men on the corners for Kawabata, and he doubled to score another run for 7-2.
And so on to the 6th, where an Aoki single and a Tanaka walk put two men on for Whitesell to bring home two more home with his third double of the game (this one the luckiest of the three, a bloop fly that landed in the no-mans land between infield and out in left) and it was 9-2. Whitesell was later brought home by and Aikawa single to end the three innings of scoring festivities with the score at 10-2.
The final two runs followed in the 8th, with a Ihara double, a Fukuchi triple (11-2) and a run-scoring groundout from Aikawa making it 12-2.
On the pitching front, the bullpen got a much needed rest as Ishikawa overcame his early troubles to go 8 innings (12H/2K/1BB) which was good enough for his fourth win on the trot to put his record at 6-8/3.68. De La Cruz pitched a one-hit scoreless 9th in relief.
The Swallows racked up 15 hits in total (to the Carp’s 13), with every member of the starting lineup bar Tanaka managing a hit. The standout was Whitesell who went 3 for 4 with a walk with 5 RBIs to show for his toils. Whitesell is now batting .306 with a .434 OBP and a whopping .710 slugging percentage.
Not far behind him was Kawabata, who went 3 for 5 with 3 RBIs of his own and is now batting .333. Hopefully he can continue in this vein so we can see someone claim the shortstop position as their own. Someone has to step up soon, as it’s been quite some time since Miyamoto was switched to 3rd.
Tokyo will go for the sweep Thursday evening at Jingu.
About David Watkins
