August 17th, 2012
Hanshin Tigers 9
Tokyo Swallows 7
Streak: Lost 3 Last 5: WWLLL
(Jingu Stadium)
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hanshin | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 7 | 1 |
| Tokyo | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 11 | 1 |
| W: Iwata (6-11); L: Hirai (2-2); S: Fujikawa (17) | ||||||||||||
Tonight was a rather interesting game. Akagawa didn’t see the fourth inning, but on the other hand, neither did Murton. Both players were watching the fourth inning from their respective benches.
Hanshin | Tokyo |
||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Uemoto (2B) | 1 | Tanaka (2B) |
| 2 | Yamato (CF) | 2 | Ueda (CF) |
| 3 | Toritani (SS) | 3 | Milledge (LF) |
| 4 | Arai R. (3B) | 4 | Hatakeyama (1B) |
| 5 | Murton (LF) | 5 | Kawabata (3B) |
| 6 | Arai T. (1B) | 6 | Iihara (RF) |
| 7 | Hirano (RF) | 7 | Morioka (SS) |
| 8 | Komiyama (C) | 8 | Aikawa (C) |
| 9 | Iwata (P) | 9 | Akagawa (P) |
After a scoreless first, the tigers jumped out to a lead in the second. After a hit, a walk, and a sac bunt, Uemoto hit a double to score two. 2 – 0 Hanshin
Yamato followed Uemoto with a double to extend the Hanshin lead. 3 – 0 Hanshin
That was the end of the scoring in inning number two.
In the third, Hanshin continued to score. After another walk by Akagawa, Arai the elder hit a 2-run HR to make it 5 – 0 Hanshin.
After that, it was the Birds turn to score. Aided by a generous scorekeeper (there were at least two errors that were called hits) the Birds evened up the score. After Morioka leadoff with a single, Aikawa nearly hit one into the stands. Unfortunately the ball was about a foot short of clearing the right-field fence and he ended up on 2ndbase. Kawamoto came into bat for Akagawa and hit a double to score 2. 5 – 2 Hanshin
Up next was Yamada. He hit a liner to left that Murton completely misjudged and was unable to make the play. Kawamoto advanced to third while Yamada stopped at second. It was officially ruled a hit but this observer knows it was an error. Ueda was the first out of the inning when he flew out to Murton. Milledge then hit another shot to left field. This was a stand-up double for him and he knocked in two runs. 5 – 4 Hanshin
Boo was up next and he hit a little floater to shallow center that was dropped by Murton as he made a sliding attempt for the ball. Milledge would advance to third and Boo was safe at first. Kawabata then hit a sac-fly to center to score Milledge and tie the game. 5 – 5
“Error #1″
After “Error #2″, Murton departs
Murton expresses his happiness about being publicly shamed.
In the top of the 5th, the tigers reclaimed the lead on a 2-run HR by Arai the elder. 7 – 5 Hanshin
The Birds would get one back in the bottom of the 5th. Although he had already given up 5 runs, Iwata was still on the mound for the 5th. Yamada would lead off with a single. He moved to second on a sac-bunt by Ueda. After Milledge struck out, Boo was up next. During the at-bat, Iwata threw a ridiculously, god-awful ball that escaped Komiyama’s grasp. It bounced so far away from home that Yamada was able to score from 2nd. 7 – 6 Hanshin
In the 7th, the hefty ginger (Brazell) made an appearance at the plate and decided to reward the nutters in left with a home run. 9 – 6 Hanshin
That would be the final scoring for Hanshin and it was just enough. The Birds would get one more in the bottom of the eighth but that was that. 9 – 7 Hanshin Final
Notes:
- 14 walks were issued by the Birds; 2 by the tigers. Absolutely pathetic
- 4 errors were committed by the tigers in the field, although only one was made official
- Tomorrow will see Messenger battle against Tateyama. First pitch is scheduled for 6 pm.
Time for Ogawa to get creative and turn this ship around.
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