September 2nd, 2012
Chunichi Dragons 0
Tokyo Swallows 1
Streak: Won 2 Last 5: WDDWW
(Meiji Jingu Stadium)
Don’t look now but the Birds are unbeaten in their last 5 games!
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chunichi | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| Tokyo | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1x | 1 | 8 | 0 |
| W: Muranaka (8-5); L: Tajima (4-3) | ||||||||||||
Tonight was all about the pitchers, oh and some guy named Fukuchi.
Muranaka went the distance for the Birds and got the complete game shutout win. Yamauchi went 7 2/3 innings and got a no-decision for his efforts.
Tokyo | Order | Chunichi |
|---|---|---|
| Hiyane (RF) | 1 | Ohshima (CF) |
| Tanaka (2B) | 2 | Matsui (RF) |
| Fujimoto (1B) | 3 | Wada (LF) |
| Milledge (LF) | 4 | Blanco (1B) |
| Kawabata (SS) | 5 | Ibata (SS) |
| Miyamoto (3B) | 6 | Tanishige (C) |
| Yuhei (CF) | 7 | Morino (3B) |
| Kawamoto (C) | 8 | Araki (2B) |
| Muranaka (P) | 9 | Yamauchi (P) |
The Birds ever-altering line-up was not much of a threat to Yamauchi. That said, the Chubu newspaper smurfs bats were never able to muster much of an attack on Muranaka either. The Birds best attempt came in the first when they got runners on the corners but Kawabata couldn’t bring in a run and grounded out to short to end the inning.
Who needs an offense when you’re yoked like me. AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!
For the Chubu newspaper smurfs, their strongest chance of scoring came in the 6th inning. But like the Birds attempt in the 1st, nothing came of it.
So that leads us to the final inning of tonight’s game. The only blemish on Muranaka in this inning was a walk to Tanishige. The other three batters were easily taken care of.
In the Birds half of the inning, Tajima came in to face Tokyo. He made quick work of Miyamoto for the first out. Yuhei reached base on a single to right. Kawamoto attempted to bunt him over but Yuhei was thrown out at second while Kawamoto was safe at first. Due up next was Muranaka. Ogawa decided it would be wise to have a pinch-hitter instead. After scouring his line-up card, Ogawa settled on Fukuchi. What a wise selection that turned out to be. Fukuchi hit the 3rd pitch he saw on a rope down the third base line. Kawamoto was running on contact. He made it quickly to third before Wada was able to cleanly collect the ball. With no hesitation, Kawamoto continued on towards home and beat the hurried throw and was safe at home after a mild collision with Tanishige.
Tag your out. Oh, sh*t I forgot to grab the ball. Now my balls ache.
That my friends, would be a walk-off double by Fukuchi and another win over the Chubu newspaper smurfs. 1 – 0 Tokyo FINAL
The worst celebratory dance by two men, lead to one of them receiving the modasha. Guess which one?
Fine. I will put you out of your misery. Muranaka and Fukuchi were the hero’s this fine evening.
Notes:
- The Birds extended their season series lead over the Chubu newspaper smurfs to 13-7-3
- Muranaka’s line: 9 IP, 120 pitches, 6 hits, 2 SO, 3 BB, O ER
- Yamauchi’s line: 7 2/3 IP, 138 pitches, 6 hits, 2 SO, 2 BB, O ER
- This was Muranaka’s second shutout in a row
- Tonight was the 50th win of the season for the Birds
- 13856 folks turned up to watch this showdown
- It lasted 3 hours and 9 minutes
- With the Swallows win and a Hiroshima loss, the Birds are now 1 game out of a playoff spot.
- Tomorrow is an off day for the Birds. On Tuesday, they head south to Yokohama to do battle with the Dena Merlins of Yokohama. Starters have yet to be confirmed
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