July 7th, 2012
Tokyo Swallows 4
Hiroshima Carp 9
Streak: Lost 1 Last 5: LWWWL
(Mazda Stadium, Hiroshima)
First of all, Happy Tanabata Day to all those residing in Japan.
Secondly, my wish on this Tanabata day is that a Swallows starter make it through a start by not allowing a blow-up inning. Unfortunately, I will have to wait until tomorrow for that to happen.
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tokyo | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 0 |
| Hiroshima | 0 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | X | 9 | 14 | 1 |
| W: Bullington (4-9); L: Masubuchi (2-3) | ||||||||||||
After outscoring the 2nd place newspaper boys of Chunichi 24-7 in the last two games, the Birds were on the short-end tonight.
Swallows | Carp |
||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Milledge (LF) | 1 | Amaya (CF) |
| 2 | Tanaka (2B) | 2 | Abe (2B) |
| 3 | Kabata (SS) | 3 | Soyogi (SS) |
| 4 | Hatekeyama (1B) | 4 | Iwamoto (1B) |
| 5 | Balentien (RF) | 5 | Doubayashi (3B) |
| 6 | Miyamoto (3B) | 6 | Hirose (RF) |
| 7 | Matsui (CF) | 7 | Maru (LF) |
| 8 | Aikawa (C) | 8 | Ishihara (C) |
| 9 | Masubuchi (P) | 9 | Bullington (P) |
As I alluded to above, this game was pretty much over before the ice keeping the drinks cold began to melt. Although the Birds scored first in the 2nd inning, Masubuchi couldn’t keep it together.
In the top half of the inning, Boo remembered how to hit the ball hard, and started the inning off with a double to right. Coco followed that with a 3-2 walk (although some of the local fans felt it was strike 3). Miyamoto then pushed the big boys ahead a base by bunting. Matsui was the second out of the inning but was able to advance both Hate and Coco. This meant Hate scored and Coco stopped at 3rd. 1-0 Tokyo
Aikawa then added another run by hitting a single to left, scoring Coco from third 2-0 Tokyo
Masubuchi would be the final out of the inning.
After watching the first two runs of the game be scored by the Swallows, Hiroshima decided to answer right back. Doubayashi lead off the inning with a single. He was followed by a Hirose double. Maru cleared the bases with a 3-run shot to right. 3-2 Hiroshima
Ishihara continued the hit parade by hitting a single to left. Bullington would be the first out of the inning when he bunted Ishihara to second. Amaya would strike out for the 2nd out of the inning. So close to getting out of the inning, Masubuschi then slipped up again. Abe hit a grounder to the left-side of the infield but would slide safely into first (one of my top five moronic decisions in baseball). Soyogi would be intentionally walked to load the bases (another one of my top five moronic decisions in baseball). To prove my point, Iwamoto hit a double to left and cleared the bases. 6-2 Hiroshima
The man who started the inning, Doubayashi, would be the final out via a strikeout.
Ogawa felt Masubuchi was in need of a rest after the long two innings of work and replaced him with Shouda. Not only did Bullington pretty much shut down the Swallows this afternoon, he also added to their misery by hitting an RBI double in the third. He knocked in Ishihara who hit a two-out single and had advanced to second on a balk. 7-2 Hiroshima
The Carp would score two more in the 7th to make it 9-2.
The Swallows would make the score a bit more respectable by scoring one in the 8th and another in the 9th. However, they never were much of a threat.
9-4 Hiroshima FINAL
Notes
- Going back to last Sunday, the Swallows have scored 37 runs in 4 games, going 3-1
- They have also given up 21 runs in that same time span
- The game lasted 2 hours and 40 minutes
- 22,351 peeps watched this one
- Balentien hit his 24th HR of the season
- Maru and Iwamoto went deep for the Toyo Red fishes
- Tomorrow will see these same two foes go at it. On the hill for the Swallows is Muranaka. He will be going against Nomura.
- First pitch is at 1:30; good seats (and sofas) still available
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