Tokyo Swallows 2

Chunichi Dragons 3

Series: Chunichi 1-1 Tokyo

(Nagoya Dome)

The Dragons leveled the series with a come-from-behind win and made sure that both team’s season will survive at least one more day.

Onizaki's bobble led to Chunichi's first run.

Tokyo”s lineup:

1. Fukuchi (LF)
2. Tanaka (2B)
3. Miyamoto (3B)
4. Aoki (CF)
5. D’Antona (1B)
6. Guiel (RF)
7. Onizaki (SS
8. Kawamoto (C)
9. Tateyama (P)

Chunichi’s lineup:

1. Ibata (SS)
2. Araki (2B)
3. Morino (3B)
4. Blanco (1B)
5. Wada (LF)
6. Inoue (RF)
7. Fujii (CF)
8. Tanishige (C )
9. Yoshimi (P)

1^st inning:

Miyamoto’s infield single was the only joy for the Swallows as it was preceded by a Fukuchi fly ball to left, a Tanaka grounder to the mound, and followed by an Aoki grounder to second.

Ibata took the first pitch of  his at-bat for a strike right down the middle, and he sliced the next Tateyama offering down the line in right for a stand-up double.

Araki then flashed the bunt and took a called first strike before totally botching his at-bat with a fouled-off bunt attempt. He later struck out checking his swing on a slider that was about a bat-length off the outside of the plate.

Morino came to the plate with Ibata still on second and one out. He ended up working a four-pitch walk as Tateyama tried, and failed, to flirt with several edges of the strike zone.

With two on and one out, Blanco came to the plate for his first battle versus Tateyama. He proceeded to slap a grounder that had double-play written all over it to Onizaki at short, but the youngster bobbled the hell out of the toss to Tanaka at second (Tanaka got nailed by the runner in the process). All runners safe. Bases loaded. One out.

Wada’s turn. Tateyama burned him on the first two pitches, but he eventually bounced one to short that didn’t get relayed in time to turn the double play. Ibata scored on the play. 1-0 Chunichi.

Inoue (yeah, the old one), who was starting for some weird reason, grounded out to short for the third out. Ochiai loses two points of respect for that personnel decision.

2^nd inning:

D’Antona grounded out to start the Swallows’ second, and Guiel struck out swinging at a high fastball.

Onizaki began his redemption campaign (after that incredibly costly error in the bottom of the first) by singling with two outs.

And then we saw a little pop from our second-string catcher. With Onizaki on first, Kawamoto punted a Yoshimi mistake pitch over the wall in left-center. 2-1 Tokyo.

Fujii started things off for Chunichi in the bottom of the second. He flied out to left.

Tanishige, while normally a sure-fire out, got in on the crappy-catcher-hitting-home-runs action and drove the game-tying run over the wall in left. 2-2.

Yoshimi struck out as expected for the second out, and Ibata grounded out to short to end the festivities.

3^rd inning:

Fukuchi started things off in the third with a grounder to short. But Tanaka reached on an infield

Tanishige stepped out of character and did something productive at the plate.

single that was very similar to the one that Miyamoto hit in the first. The head-first slide, however, was completely unnecessary.

But it all got erased when Miyamoto’s grounder up the middle was stopped by Ibata and he did a bit of tap-dancing on his way to an 6-3 double-play.

Grrr.

Tateyama retired the side in the bottom of that inning.

4^th inning:

Aoki grounded out to start the fourth, but D’Antona came through with a single to right to put a runner on first for Guiel.

And the senior non-Japanese on the team (Yuichi no longer counts) was incredibly patient in drawing a walk.

But it was all undone when Onizaki took a swipe at the first pitch and grounded into another double-play. Two runners stranded.

Double Grrr.

Wada started off the Chunichi fourth with a double off the wall in left-center. He got pushed over to third on Fujii’s hopper up the first base line that the drawn-in D’Antona couldn’t quite get his glove on (error).

With runners on first and third and one out, Tanishige got done a little bit by the umpire to put the count at 2-2 (lots of suspect calls behind the plate for both sides in this game), and he ended up striking out swinging at a low slider.

Yoshimi did his job by striking out to send his team into the field for the start of the fifth.

5^th inning:

The Swallows sat down in order as the 2-2 scoreline survived yet another half-inning.

Ibata led off the Chunichi fifth with an infield single to short. And Araki started flashing the bunt again.  This time he was successful, and Ibata found himself on second with one out.

Morino put up a very good fight at the plate during his at-bat, but he eventually flied out to shallow left for out number two.

Blanco went down on three straight sliders, all of them low and the last one outside to end the threat from the Dragons.

I’m a big fan of Ochiai’s tendency to bunt in this series.

6^th inning:

Tanaka was the first man up for the birds in the sixth. He quickly got behind in the count, but he came through with a liner up the middle that put the go-ahead runner on first.

Miyamoto then started flashing the bunt as Takada (following Ochiai’s lead?) finally had a chance to get in on the act. The bunt was successful, and Tanaka was safe at second with one out.

Aoki grounded out and Tanaka was able to make it to third on the play. Two outs, man on third.

But D’Antona grounded out to third to leave Tanaka at third.

The Dragons went down in order.

7^th inning:

Guiel led off with a hard, hard, hard, single down the line in right. It was so hard, in fact, that he had no chance at second due to how quickly it bounced off the wall and bounced straight into Inoue’s glove.

Onizaki bunted him over to second to put the go-ahead run in scoring position. Too bad the last third of the lineup was due up. Things got bleaker when Kawamoto shattered his bat and popped up to Morino at third.

Tateyama grounded out to the pitcher give Chunichi another shot on offense.

"I don't understand. The bunt always worked so well when I was in high school..."

Note for Takada: we’ve covered this before, but don’t count on the bottom third of your lineup to hit with runners in scoring position (unless you’ve once again relegated Tanaka to the seventh or eighth slot for no apparent reason). In other words, stop telling people to bunt unless the batter in question happens to be the pitcher!

Tanishige sliced a full count pitch into shallow center to put another go-ahead runner on base. Yoshimi bunted him over for the first out.

Ibata grounded out for the second out, but Tanishige moved over to third in the process.

Araki came to the plate with two outs and the winning run on third. The first pitch was a ball outside. The second was a meatball that he easily slapped into center field for Chunichi’s third run. 3-2 Dragons.

And that was the end of Tateyama’s night.

Enter Hye-cheon Lee.

Araki stole second to put another runner in scoring position with Morino at the plate for the Dragons (terrible throw by Kawamoto; good recovery by Onizaki).

But Morino eventually struck out swinging to temporarily shut things down.

And Doala, for the second night in a row, landed his off-kilter handspring. Even Tsubakuro was impressed.

8^th inning:

Fukuchi continued his run of futile impatience at the plate and lined out to third on the first pitch for out number one.

Tanaka worked the count full with one out and nobody on, but he eventually grounded out to third.

Miyamoto also continued his over-agressive ways when he chased the first pitch, a high fastball, but got nowhere near it. He was patient enough to get it back to 2-2, and then he drilled one down the line at Morino, but it appeared that the third baseman disillusionedly perceived himself to be in foul territory and was alarmed when he discovered that he needed to send the ball in the direction of first base. His throw ended up being off the map, and he earned himself an error in the process.

So it was Aoki’s turn with two outs and a man on first. The first three pitches were balls, and Aoki may have made a mistake in swinging at the next pitch as it was high and ended up in the pitcher’s glove for the third out.

The Chunichi eighth began with the hitless Blanco at the plate and Oshimoto on the mound.

Blanco grounded out to Tanaka for out number one.

Wada, for his part, swiped at one of Oshimoto’s pitches a bit late, but he still managed to slice it into right-center for a single.

Hirata stepped into the batter’s box for Chunichi with one out and a man on first. On what appeared to be a hit-and-run, Hirata popped up to right for out number two.

Up came the annoyingly effective Fujii.

Oshimoto missed with his first pitch for ball one. But Fujii popped up harmlessly on the second pitch to bring an end to the inning.

9^th inning:

Do or die for the birds…

Asao took the mound for the Dragons to face the tail end of Tokyo’s cleanup contingent (and specifically the right-handed D’Antona).

D’Antona came out swinging and got a bit ahead of the first pitch he was offered. Number two was a low ball, and the third pitch sailed wide for a 1-2 count (one strike; two balls). The next pitch was a forkball in the dirt, and Jamie chased it to put the count at 2-2, but he held off on the next pitch to work the count full. The next pitch, however, was a high forkball that D’Antona wasn’t able to put any lumber on. One out.

And that’s when Iwase showed up. Seems that Ochiai likes the lefty-lefty matchup as much as Takada does. Amazingly, Takada didn’t sub Guiel out like he’s done all season.

The first pitch was low and outside for ball one. Pitch number two was a bit high and inside to put Guiel in the driver’s seat. He fouled off the third pitch before taking ball three. The next pitch was outside and Guiel fouled it off. The next pitch was a ball and the tying run reached first base. It was Guiel’s second walk of the game. Bless him.

Fludge (Hatakeyama) then materialized at the plate in Onizaki’s place. Still not sure why. His patience paid off at first as he worked a 1-2 count, but then he fouled off an outside pitch to level things up again. He ended his at-bat, and the game, by grounding into a 4-6-3 double-play.

Dragons 3-2 Swallows final.

Tateyama lasted 6 2/3 innings. He gave up three runs (two earned) off of six hits. He also gave up one walk while striking out six. He threw 106 pitches while taking the loss.

Tanaka was the only Tokyo player to notch a multi-hit game. Kawamoto was responsible for both of Tokyo’s runs.

Miyamoto, D’Antona, Guiel, and Onizaki also had hits.

Observations:

• The two teams tied with seven hits each.
• The birds hit into three double plays.
• Ibata was annoyingly good on defense in this game.
• Wada had two more hits in this game and is now hitting .571 for the series.
• Tony Blanco hits grounders like it’s his job. For the record, Tony, you’re doing your job very well!
• Fukuchi still doesn’t have a hit.
• If I ever own the Swallows, I will fine players for swinging at the first pitch in more than one at bat per game.
• Impatience at the plate, in my view, is posing a bit of a problem at this point. The birds have displayed a disheartening propensity for putting the first pitch in play, and it’s almost invariably a grounder to short or second. Unfortunately, veterans such as Fukuchi and Miyamoto are as guilty of this as anybody else in the lineup (if not moreso).
• Big kudos to Aoki, D’Antona, and Guiel for repeated quality at-bats.
• Ochiai’s a doofus for starting Inoue.

The decisive game three is tomorrow night at 6 PM. This one will also be played at Nagoya Dome.

Hanshin Tigers 1

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 3

Streak: Won 4      Last 5:  LWWWW

(Jingu Stadium)

Whisper it, we are A-Class. No f*uck that. Shout it from the rooftops, WE ARE A-CLASS!!

In the biggest game the Swallows have faced in years, they did what was necessary and beat the Hanshin Tigers to secure 3rd place in the CL and the Climax Series place that goes with it. Savour it. We will be travelling to Nagoya to face the Dragons a week tomorrow.

Bring. It. On.

In front of over 30,000 fans in a packed to the rafters Jingu, a stadium in which the Swallows fans at least equalled, if not exceeded in numbers those of Hanshin (not been able  to say that for quite a few years), Tokyo lined up as thus:

1. Fukuchi (LF)
2. Noguchi (2B)
3. Miyamoto (3B)
4. Aoki (CF)
5. Hatakeyama (1B)
6. Guiel (RF)
7. Kawamoto (C)
8. Onizaki (SS)
9. Ishikawa (P)

Takada just had to get his oar in tonight, messing with the lineup that had proved so effective for the last few games, replacing Kajimoto with Noguchi and Yuichi with FataHatakeyama. At least he didn’t replace Guiel which we feared he might as the lineup was being announced, though he did move him from the no.5 to the no.6 slot..

And so to the game. The two team aces, Shohei Tateyama and Masanori Ishikawa were being entrusted with taking the Swallows to the CS at the expense of the Tigers, and after the former pitched a superb complete-game shutout the night before, all eyes were on Ishikawa to see if he could bring it home for Yakult.

Tokyo faced off against Tigers starter Iwata, and got off on the right foot in the bottom of the 1st.

Fukuchi led off with a single before being bunted along to second by Noguchi for the first out of the inning. Miyamoto then hit and infield single to put men on first and second before Aoki came to the plate. A wild pitch allowed both runners to advance into scoring positions, as Aoki dug in at the plate. After quite a battle, he hit the ninth pitch he saw through the gap between second and third and a run scored for 1-0 Tokyo with runners now at the corners with one out.

Next man up Hatakeyama blew the chance to extend the lead as he hit into a double play to end the inning.

In the top of the 2nd, two singles and an intentional walk for the Tigers’ no.8 hitter Kanoh loaded the bases for Iwata, but despite the pitcher making decent contact with the ball, it was taken by Onizaki who threw to second to make the final out of the inning and the runners were stranded.

In the bottom of the inning,  a Guiel leadoff double wasn’t capitalised on, as he ended up being stranded at third.

The Swallows eventually extended their lead in the 6th, with walks for Aoki and Guiel putting men on first and second with two outs. The unlikely hero of the night before, Kawamoto, poked one up the middle and it was 2-0. Onizaki was then given a free pass to first to load the bases before Ishikawa grounded out to end the inning.

Tokyo then gifted Hanshin the opportunity to get back in the game in the top of the 7th. Sakurai led off the inning with a single before Kanoh hit a grounder to short that had double play written all over it. Onizaki however let the ball past him and the Tigers had runners on the corners with no outs. After pitcher Iwata had twice tried and failed to bring runners home earlier in the game, Takahashi came in to pinch-hit. He hit a liner to center and the lead was halved as it was 2-1 as Tigers runners occupied first and second. A Hirano groundout and a Sekimoto flyout then put two outs on the board.

Toritani hit a fierce grounder to second which was stopped by the diving Morioka (in for Hatakeyama and occupying second, with Noguchi moving to first) but he couldn’t field the ball and the bases were loaded for the rather long in the tooth Kanemoto. He hit a fly ball to behind the plate which was taken by Kawamoto and more runners were stranded.

In the 8th Atchison took the mound for Hanshin, for his (quite ridiculously) 75th outing of the year.  Fukuchi reached second after a walk and trademark steal,  before making third on a Noguchi bunt. Miyamoto hit a single to right and things were a little more comfy at 3-1 Tokyo.

In the bottom of the inning, an Arai double and a Brazell groundout put a runner on third with one out. Takada then called closer Lim to the mound, after which no other reliever left the bullpen to warm up. It was clear that Lim was given the task of bringing home the win for Tokyo. A strikeout and flyout got Lim two of the five outs he needed in order to accomplish his brief and the 8th was done.

In the 9th Lim walked pinch-hitter Katsuragi to start the inning, but a Hirano ground out, a Hiyama strikout put the Swallows just one out away from their goal. Toritani obliged with a flyout to centre and it was mission accomplished, 3-1 Tokyo Final.

Ishikawa took the win after his 7 and 1/3 innings of five-hit one-run baseball, with two Ks and two BBs. He, as we suspected he would, came up with the goods when required to put his record at 13-7/3.54.

Lim earned his 28th save of the year with his ERA now down to 2.05.

Tokyo were outhit 8-6, the Swallows’ hits coming from Fukuchi (.271), Aoki (.303), Guiel (.266) and Kawamoto (.180), all with a hit apiece, and the quite simply superhuman Miyamoto (.294) with two hits.

A few thoughts:

• Miyamoto is the MF man. Playing an enormous role down the stretch and all with a fractured thumb on his throwing hand. He is without doubt the current holder of the Mr.Swallows title. Shinya, you have my everlasting respect.
• Jingu was as busy as I’ve seen it since the Furuta retirement game. Great atmosphere, but huge lines for toilets and concessions showed that Jingu is more comfortable with it’s more regular 15,000 or so inhabitants.
• Where did all those extra Swallows fans come from? The same fans that chanted Takada’s name at the end of the game. I shouted that we didn’t need him next year, and called them all idiots for cheering him. Party pooper? No. Just not a fuktard.
• Never seen the team so hyped for as long as I can remember. Outs were accompanied by punching of the air and a real sense of fight by the Tokyo players and staff alike. Love it. Can we have that passion every game next year please?
• Aoki looked absolutely elated at the end of the game. Finally he gets a reward for his stellar seasons during what has been a barren spell for the Swallows.

The season series ended at 15-9 in the Swallows’ favour. The only teams Tokyo have a losing record against are the first-placed Orange Fuktards and the last-placed Baystars. Go figure.

This is Tokyo’s first A-Class finish since 2006, when they also finished 3rd. This is the first time in five years that the Tigers have finished in their more historically accurate B-Class position.

So, on to the Climax series which starts in Nagoya against the Chunchi Dragons next Saturday.

Between now and then is a game against the Dragons on Sunday before the final home game of the year (unless we make the Nippon Series) Monday against Yomiuri. Both now have little meaning as the Swallows are now 1.5 games clear of 4th and 11.5 behind 2nd. We’re all waiting for the real stuff to start next week.

Can’t wait.

Hanshin Tigers 0

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 5

Streak: Won 3      Last 5:  WLWWW

(Jingu Stadium)

The birds rode a complete game shutout by starter Tateyama to their third win in a row and reclaimed third place in the Central League in the process.

Tokyo’s starting nine:

1. Fukuchi (LF)
2. Kajimoto (2B)
3. Miyamoto (3B)
4. Aoki (CF)
5. Guiel (RF)
6. Yuichi (1B)
7. Kawamoto (C)
8. Onizaki (SS)
9. Tateyama (P)

The story of this game was Tateyama. He allowed no more than a single runner in any given inning, and he threw 121 pitches on his way to claiming his 16th win of the season. He scattered five hits and beaned one while walking none and striking out five. His ERA dropped slightly to 3.39, and he effectively kept the team’s chances of reaching the post-season alive.

The Swallows opened the scoring in the third when Miyamoto (one out double) scored from second on an Arai throwing error to first (Aoki made it all the way to third on the play). Aoki then got thrown out trying to sneak home on a Guiel fielder’s choice to first, but Guiel motored around to score on Yuichi’s two out double to right. Unfortunately, like Aoki, Yuichi was a little too aggressive on that play and he was thrown out easily trying to stretch his double into a triple. Either way, the birds found themselves up 2-0.

Two more runs scored in the sixth when Aoki’s no out single to left was followed by a two out Kawamoto home run (his third) in the same direction. 4-0 Tokyo.

The Swallows scored one more run in the seventh when Miyamoto’s one out grounder to short plated Fukuchi from third. 5-0 Tokyo.

And that was it. Tateyama pitched a very good game, and the patchwork lineup came through with some decent hits at the right times.

Lim was warming up for a while before the start of the ninth inning, but his services were never needed as Tateyama made rather quick work of the final frame.

Observations:

• The birds can seal their Climax Series birth with a win tomorrow night over the Tigers. If they don’t win that game, then they will need to win both of their remaining games (Sunday vs Chunichi; Monday vs Yomiuri).
• Fukuchi gets behind in the count like it’s his job.
• Kajimoto looks like he’s going to fall over every time he has to track down a high pop fly behind first base. He had two chances today: Guiel called him off the ball the first time, and he did indeed fall over the second time.
• Now that Takada has indicated that he will be returning next season even if the Swallows don’t make it to the playoffs, I guess there’s nothing left for us to do but reinvest ourselves emotionally in these final three games.
• Kawamoto’s jack in the sixth was pretty sweet, but I still miss Aikawa.
• Hanshin starter, Ando, got the hook after only four innings and 77 pitches. Ando did give up two unearned runs, but his successors, Kubo and Kanemura, gave up three earned runs in only three innings.
• Tokyo outhit Hanshin 8-5.
• Tokyo lead the season series versus Hanshin 14-9.
• Tokyo have a slim half-game advantage over Hanshin.
• Onizaki looks to be the real deal (both with the bat and the glove). Keizo Kawashima must be having a rough time getting to sleep right now.
• Hanshin starter Ando has faced the Swallows three times since the 28th of September. He lost two of those contests and got a no decision in the other.

Hanshin Tigers 8

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 2

Streak: Lost 1     Last 5:  WWWWL

(Jingu Stadium)

Well, no blisters were involved, but that still sucked.

Tokyo’s lineup:

1. Fukuchi (LF)
2. Tanaka (2B)
3. Yuichi (1B)
4. Aoki (CF)
5. Hatakeyama (3B)
6. Guiel (RF)
7. Onizaki (SS)
8. Kawamoto (C)
9. Yoshinori (P)

Even though the Swallows won yesterday’s game, a lot of bad things transpired during that game. Miyamoto got hurt. Aikawa got hurt. I spilled a beer on my leg…twice.

And somewhere along the way, someone decided that the six game winning streak could survive another Yoshinori start.

I must admit that I, too, was foolish enough to think that Takada would completely skip Yoshinori’s turn in the rotation. It seemed like that might be the case for a few days, but…

The 19-year-old was back on the mound for today’s excruciatingly important game two versus the Tigers. And he lasted exactly four innings (94 pitches!).

Lots of walks. That’s how to describe this start. And lots of free runs. I mean, that’s what happens when the pitcher has two fielding errors.

In the first, for example, a lead-off single by Hirano was followed by a one out walk for Toritani and that set the table for a two out Arai rbi double. 1-0 Hanshin after one.

In response, the Swallows stranded two runners in both the first and second frames.

In the top of the third, Hanshin added another run when Toritani’s one out walk was followed by the first Kanemoto double of the evening. 2-0 cats.

But the birds leveled things in the bottom of that inning when a Fukuchi HBP was followed by a solid Aoki homer to right (his 15th). 2-2.

But Hanshin came right back with four more runs in the fourth with a little help from some more shoddy Yoshinori fielding (error). Back-to-back walks (Hirano and Sekimoto) were followed by back-to-back doubles (Toritani and Kanemoto) to make the score 6-2 and put an end to Yoshinori’s evening.

The Swallows tallied three more hits, and drew three more walks after that, but it wasn’t enough to score any more runs. The Tigers, meanwhile, earned another run in the seventh care of an Arai solo homer (off of Oshimoto, 2.79 ERA), and one in the ninth thanks to a crap, three-hit inning at the expense of Lee (3.34).

Final score: 8-2 Tigers.

Observations:

• Matsui (3.52) pitched hectic, but ultimately scoreless, fifth and sixth innings.
• Yoshinori (3.47), who earned his tenth loss of the season (against five wins), gave up six runs but only two of them were earned. All of the misdeeds were his own in this contest. If Takada chooses to start him again it will (hopefully) be because the third playoff spot has already been decided.
• Hashimoto (1.93) retired all three batters he faced in the eighth.
• Despite being one of the two heroes of last night’s game, Yuichi struck out three times and proved that it is, just maybe, a little wishful to have him batting third. He did, however, have one hit tonight. That said, how he warrants a start over Iihara is beyond me.
• Aoki’s 1-4 night put his average at .295. More importantly, he now leads the league with a .391 OBP.
• Guiel went two for three (two singles) and added a walk as well.
• Kawamoto also reached base three times by singling and walking twice.
• Mayumi used both Atchison and Fujikawa with a sizable lead. He and Takada are clearly related.
• The Swallows were outhit 12-6. Yoshinori’s five walks, one wild pitch, and two fielding errors were not at all helpful.
• The Swallows’ winning streak was unceremoniously halted at six.

Game three of this series is tomorrow night at Jingu. First pitch is scheduled for 6 PM. If the Swallows win, they regain their 1.5 game lead. If the Tigers win, then they will take control of third place in the Central League by a margin of half of a game.

See you there.

Yomiuri Giants 10

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 2

Streak: Lost 1    Last 5: LLWWL

(Jingu Stadium)

After two long overdue victories on the trot, normal service was resumed tonight as the team did what they nearly always do when facing their local neighbours, they yet again rolled over and became Yomiuri’s bitches.

Tonight saw Muranaka return to start for the first time since then end of August, where he was unceremoniously yanked by Takada after 1 and 2/3 innings of two run baseball against the Carp. Things didn’t look too promising for win number three of the Swallows’ recovery, what with him coming into the game with an 8.25 ERA and not a single win in his five previous starts this season.

And tonight he was, well, Muranaka-like. He started promisingly enough (which is un-Muranaka-like actually) with two perfect innings, but the Giants bats gradually got his number, creating and wasting chances to score in both the 3rd and 4th, and then putting up two runs in each of the 5th and 6th innings. Muranaka ended his six innings having given up four runs off eight hits, with four strikeouts and three walks. He would eventually be tagged with the loss to send his record to 0 and 5. His ERA actually dropped to 7.80 which shows that it was an above-par Muranaka performance after all.

Youngster Katoh made his first appearance of his second year as a pro in the 7th, but it was one to forget as he gave up five runs off five hits (including a three-run shot from pig-man Abe) without getting a single out. He was replaced by Matsui (4.77) who got out of the inning without another run scoring.

Yoshikawa (2.70) then pitched the 8th and 9th, giving up just one hit, a Kamei solo homer in the 9th.

Tokyo lined up like this:

1. Fukuchi (LF)
2. Keizo (SS)
3. Aoki (CF)
4. D’Antona (1B)
5. Miyamoto (3B)
6. Ihara (RF)
7. Tanaka (2B)
8. Kawamoto (C)
9. Muranaka (P)

After having woken up somewhat over the last two games, Tokyo’s bats faced Giants starter Utsumi, a pitcher who had shut them out over the distance earlier this month.

And they didn’t fare a whole lot better tonight as Utsumi gave up two runs off six hits in his seven innings of work. Tokyo’s only runs of the game came in the 7th, while down by nine runs at the time. Tanaka and Kawamoto hit consecutive two-out singles, and Hatakeyama (in for Matsui) hit a double to make it 9-2 Yomiuri.

Ochi (0 hits allowed) and Toyoda (1 hit) then worked scoreless 8th and 9th and it was 10-2 Final. Tokyo were outhit 14-7 in the game.

The season series between the two teams now stands at 15-4-1  in the Giants’ favour.

Tanaka (.269) was the only standout with the bat with two hits, with Aoki (.289), Fukuchi (.275), Kawamoto (.147), Hatakeyama (.243) and Muranaka (.125) with the others.

With Hanshin also losing tonight against Hiroshima, the Swallows remain 0.5 games out of 3rd.

The two teams return tomorrow evening for game two of the humiliation series.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 3

Chunichi Dragons 6

Streak: Lost 1   Last 5: WWLWL

(Nagaragawa Stadium)

A pretty horrible three innings from starter Ichiba gave Tokyo a mountain to climb early on, and though they did their best to fight back they came up short on a rainy evening in Gifu.

Yakult came into the game having won the last five meetings between the teams, but the Chunichi bats made light work of Ichiba as it soon became clear the run wouldn’t be extended to six.

Ichiba gave up two runs in the 2nd inning courtesy of a two run homer from catcher Oyama. And the lead was five in the 3rd, another homer, this time a monster three run shot to left from Tony Blanco which made it 5-0 Chunichi.

That was all for Ichiba as he left the game having given up five runs off five hits, striking out three and walking two.

Lee came in to pitch a scoreless 4th before Yakult struck back against Chunichi starter Asakura in the top of the 5th.

Guiel got hit to put him on first with no outs and then Miyamoto singled to put men on first and third. Tanaka then hit into his second double play of the game but Guiel came home to make it 5-1 Chunichi. Catcher Kawamoto, starting his first game of the season due to what must be an injury to Aikawa, demonstrated the one thing he can do better than the regular catcher by hitting a solo homer to right to make it 5-2. A home run that made Tanaka’s double play seem all the more wasteful.

Oshimoto came in to pitch a scoreless bottom of the 5th and then Tokyo narrowed the lead further in the top of the 6th.   Kawashima hit a grounder to short but reached base on an error at first by Blanco. Fukuchi then singled, Kawashima tried to make it to third but was thrown out, allowing Fukuchi to reach second. Aoki then singled to bring home Fukuchi and make it 5-3 Chunichi.

But that was as close as they would get. Oshimoto pitched another scoreless inning in the 6th, Matsuoka did likewise in the 7th and then Maruyama gave up a solo homer to Wada in the 8th to make it 6-3 Chunichi.

In came Iwase to close out the game in the 9th, and earn his 200th career save (Congratulations Iwase!!) and it was all over for a 6-3 Final.

Ichiba took the loss and his record now stands at 1 and 3 with an ERA of 5.311. One must now question his suitability for a starting role as apart from a few exeptions he’s looked not quite up to scratch in a Tokyo uniform thus far.

D’Antona went hitless for the third straight game on his 27th birthday, going 0 for 4 and striking out three times for good measure. He’s now hitting .235 for the year.

Miyamoto had another two hit night to take him to .300, and is now one of only two regular starters to be at or above the .300 mark (the other being Fukuchi who’s at .301).

So a loss, but mostly down to a poor start from Ichiba but even then the chances were there to get back into the game but they just couldn’t take them. Hopefully the Swallows can get back on track tomorrow evening when the two teams meet again, this time at the Nagoya Dome.

Yokohama BayStars 3

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 4

Streak: Won 2 Last 5: WW
(Urasoe)

Tokyo won this game on a walk-off single to left care of infield utility man Yoshiyuki Noguchi (IF). Tokyo had gone into the top of the 9th nursing a one run advantage when Yokohama’s leftfielder, Onishi, homered to left off of new Tokyo southpaw, Ricky Barrett. Despite giving up the game-tying run, Barrett was credited with the win when Noguchi brought Iihara home on a game-winning single in the bottom of that inning.

Another Tokyo newcomer started the game. Hye-cheon Lee, formerly of the Doosan Bears, pitched three innings, and then he was followed by Ryo Kawashima who did the same. Tokyo’s third pitcher for the day was veteran Masao Kida who pitched two innings in middle relief.

Noguchi was definitely the highlight of the offense today. He went three for three with a triple, double and that game-winning single mentioned earlier. Kazuki Fukuchi and Yasuchi Iihara came through with two hits each.

In addition to Noguchi, Aaron Guiel (OF), Yuuichi Matsumoto (DH) and Kouhei Kawamoto (C) each had an rbi.

The Yokohama offense only had four hits, but they got a little help from a pair of Tokyo errors to help keep them in the game. Hitoshi Fujie took the loss for Yokohama.