Hiroshima Carp  1

Tokyo Swallows  2

Streak: Won 1       Last 5: LWWLW

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

This game very nearly sucked. But in the end, it turned out to be a very satisfactory way to end the regular season.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	F	H	E
Hiroshima	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	3	0
Tokyo	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2x	2	3	0
W: Oshimoto (3-2 1S) L: Maeda (10-12)

The unimportance of this contest was lost on very few people in the stadium with a large portion of the Swallows fans on hand showing up purely because Hirotoshi Ishii was slated to pitch a bit in the final top team appearance of his injury-abbreviated career.

	Hiroshima		Tokyo
1	Higashide 2B	1	Aoki CF
2	Akamatsu CF	2	Ueda LF
3	Maru RF	3	Tanaka 2B
4	Kurihara 1B	4	Hatakeyama 1B
5	Matsuyama LF	5	Miyamoto 3B
6	Barden 3B	6	Balentien RF
7	Kokubo SS	7	Morioka SS
8	Kura C	8	Kawamoto C
9	Maeda P	9	Akagawa P

The only person for whom the game seemed to matter was Hiroshima’s starter, Kenta Maeda. He needed a few more Ks and maybe an inning or two to secure first place in both pitching categories for the 2011 season.

Ishii threw three strikes in his last pro appearance.

And he got ‘em both. Maeda went nearly the full nine and struck out four in a dominating pitching performance that nearly ended his season on a very high note.

Nearly.

Maeda carried a no-hitter through eight and one-third innings before finally running into trouble. He walked three in the process, but Tokyo’s bats never put up much of a fight. And why should they? This game felt very much like a fine-tuning exercise before the playoffs start on Saturday.

The pitching changes were fast and furious on the Tokyo side. Akagawa (6-3; 2.03 ERA) started and pitched two scoreless innings before Tateyama (11-5; 2.04) came in to throw a three up, three down, 12-pitch third. Lim (4-2 32S; 2.17) and Matsuoka (2-2; 2.86) pitched a runnerless inning each before Barnette (1-1 2S; 2.68) made his first appearance in what seemed like a year and a half and surrendered the only run of the game up to that point. 1-0 Hiroshima.

But the Tokyo bats weren’t getting anything done to keep Maeda honest. However, that didn’t really matter to most of the crowd as main course was about to be served. Ishii made his way to the mound to start the top of the seventh. His opponent, Matsumoto, swung politely at three straight pitches to give Ishii the send-off he deserved.

The teary-eyed Ishii was then replaced by Masubuchi (7-11; 4.22) who figures to be coming out of the ‘pen during the first stage of the playoffs. Masubuchi gave up the obligatory walk to repay Hiroshima for their sportsmanship, and then he worked through the next five batters without allowing any other runners to reach base.

I like Masubuchi coming out of the ‘pen. And you should, too.

Oshimoto (3-2 1S; 3.28) pitched the top of the ninth, and he eventually retired the side despite nearly giving up a home run to Matsuyama.

And Oshimoto would eventually get the win as the Swallows finally got to Maeda with one out in the bottom of the ninth. After drawing a walk in his first at-bat, Whitesell was caught looking at a called 3-2 strike. But then Tokyo’s horde of second and third string players came through to disrupt Maeda’s no-hitter and give the substantial home crowd something other than Ishii to cheer about.

Fujimoto (read this to find out why he was promoted) broke up the no-hit bid with a double down the line in left, and then Ueda outran a slow hopper to short to put runners on the corners with one out.

Ueda safely stole second during Tanaka’s at-bat, and then the latter worked a walk to juice the bases with Maeda still on the mound. There was action in the bullpen, but Nomura never made a move.

Hatakeyama then grounded stoftly to second, and he was somehow able to beat the throw at first to avoid the

Hirotoshi's three children greeted him after the game. Instant heart-melter.

double play while Fujimoto scored from third on the fielder’s choice. All tied at one.

With runners on the corners and Fukuchi pinch-hitting for Noguchi (who was covering third for Miyamoto), Fukuchi swatted a low 2-1 changeup into left to score the winning run and surprise the hell out of everyone in the stadium. 2-1 Tokyo walk-off win.

Oshimoto got the win for his scoreless ninth inning, and Ishii gave a post-game speech that drew tears from several in attendance (not me).

The Tokyo Swallows now have a few final days to prepare for their upcoming home series against the Yomiuri Giants who will venture to Jingu from Suidobashi this Saturday for game one of the first stage of the Central League Climax Series. The game starts at 6:30PM. See you there.

Notes:

For the record, tonight was Ishii’s first top team appearance since 2006. His best year, for those that like to reminisce, was 2005 when he amassed 37 saves and a 1.95 ERA in 61 appearances.

Balentien came up with a very nice sliding catch in the top of the third to keep things in check for Tateyama. It was arguably one of his finer defensive plays of the year in right field.

Hiroshima fans are awesome. They stayed for Ishii’s retirement speech and many of them were still in the left field stands when he finished his tour around the field to thank the fans. After that, they shouted across to us (in unison) wishing us luck in the Climax Series. Very classy folks.

Balentien finished the season with a batting average of .228 which meant that Kozo won the bet and Mac had to buy him a beer after the seventh inning.

Balentien finished the 2011 campaign top of the Central in home runs (31), slugging (.469), and strikeouts (131). He also finished fourth in RBI (76).

Aoki finished first in games (144), at-bats (583), and runs scored (73).

Tanaka took first in Tak-bunts (62).

Hatakeyama led the league in walks (78).

The Tokyo Swallows finished the 144 game season 2.5 games behind Chunichi and one game ahead of the third place Yomiuri Giants.

The Swallows scored more runs than any other team in the Central (484), but were second worst in runs allowed (504).

Nice way to end the regular season.

]]> http://tokyoswallows.com/2011/10/25/102511-hiroshima-home/feed/ 8 http://tokyoswallows.com/2011/10/06/10611-hanshin-away/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=10611-hanshin-away http://tokyoswallows.com/2011/10/06/10611-hanshin-away/#comments Thu, 06 Oct 2011 14:05:23 +0000 Kozo http://tokyoswallows.com/?p=10877 October 6th, 2011

Tokyo Swallows 1

Hanshin Tigers 7

Streak: Lost 3    Last 5: LWLLL

(Kyocera Dome)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	F	H	E
Tokyo	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	5	0
Hanshin	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	4	X	7	15	0
W: Messenger (12-5) L: Masubuchi (7-10)

Let’s not beat around the bush the Swallows lost, and the Dragons won their fifth straight game tonight. Which meant that the Swallows have relinquished their CL lead for the first time since May 30th, the last time the Dragons pulled ahead of the Swallows. The last time the Dragons had the CL lead it lasted 1 day before the Swallows rallied and ran with crown until tonight. So let’s look at the game…

	Swallows		Tigers
1	CF Aoki	1	2B Hirano
2	LF Fukuchi	2	CF Shibata
3	SS Kawabata	3	SS Toritani
4	3B Hatakeyama	4	3B Arai
5	1B Whitesell	5	1B Brazell
6	2B Tanaka	6	RF Murton
7	RF Balentien	7	LF Kanemoto
8	C Aikawa	8	C Fujii
9	P Masubuchi	9	P Messenger

In case you missed the Tweet last night, Miyamoto was held out of the last two games with pneumonia. Miyamoto is the third Swallows after Ishikawa and Kyuko to succumb to pneumonia in the last couple of weeks. Someone needs to go check for mold in the clubhouse. The absence of Miyamoto and offensive power gave Whitesell the start at first base, while Hatake manned third base. Unfortunately the results remained lackluster, to say the least.

Aoki did start things off with a double, and advanced to third on a Fukuchi bunt. But Kawabata and Hatakeyama weren’t able to get Aoki over the plate.

The Tigers on the other hand, got their first run after back-to-back one out singles by Shibata and Toritani put men on the corners in the bottom of the inning. Arai cashed in a run with a sac fly for the Tiger’s first run. 1-0 Tigers

The Tigers got another run in the next inning after Murton and Kanemoto opened the inning with back-to-back singles to put men on first and second. Fujii bunted them over to scoring position, and Messenger grounded out for out number 2. Unfortunately Masubuchi wasn’t able to coax another out from Hirano, who hit a grounder deep to short for an infield single to score Murton. 2-0 Tigers Luckily the Tigers let the Swallows off the hook after Kanemoto got caught in a run down to end the inning without further damage.

The Swallows got their only run in the third after Aoki got a one out triple, and a Fukuchi groundout brought him home. 2-1 Tigers

Masubuchi managed to settle down a little and kept the Tigers off the board for the next 3 innings. The Tigers struck again in the sixth when Brazell launched a solo shot into the left field stands. 3-1 Tigers Masubuchi ended the night with 2 consecutive strikeouts to end the inning, but the damage was already done.

With the Swallows offense failing to string together anything close to a rally, the game rested on the shoulders of the Swallows relievers to keep it close and hope that the offense would get it’s act together. Hidaka managed to get through the seventh inning in three batters, even though Hirano got on base via a two out infield single. The feisty Hirano got caught stealing soon after he reached base to end the seventh.

The Swallows handed the ball to Oshimoto for the eighth and things just went down hill from there. Oshimoto gave up 6 consecutive hits to the Tigers to start the inning, including a Brazell home run. In total 4 runs scored before Oshimoto got a double play and a ground out to end the inning. 7-1 Tigers

The offense never arrived and the Swallows went down 1-2-3 in the ninth to end the game.

Despite giving up a bunch of hits (8 in total) in his 6 innings, Masubuchi looked relatively in control and didn’t give up a single walk. While certainly not the prettiest outting, it should have given a chance to the offense, which has been woefully lacking the last couple of days. The offense managed only 5 hits and drew 2 walks but conceded 3 sac bunts and 2 GIDPs, not pretty.

The Swallows look to begin their epic comeback tomorrow at home against the Carp.

Will the nightmare end? Is there light at the end of the tunnel?

After a couple of weeks of feeling like there wasn’t much to write about, we’re back with another Monday review! This week we’ll cover the major roster moves made this week, well as go over all the retirement announcements made recently, and we’ll also spend a lot of time going over the stretch run from multiple view points.

Looking Back

Roster Moves: Due to injury and ineffectiveness our roster has been in flux recently. Muranaka was taken off the active roster on September 28 citing tightness in his throwing shoulder after a string of ineffective starts. Shichijo took his place on the roster, but lost it a day later after an ineffective start against the Tigers. Meanwhile Ishikawa and Kyuko both reportedly had fevers. Kyuko was taken off the active roster with Shichijo to get some rest, while Ishikawa missed his scheduled start but remained on the active roster. LHP Okamoto was brought up with the Kyuko/Shichijo demotion, but lost his top team spot on the 2nd in a major roster shake up. Okamoto, Tetsuya Yamamoto, Takeuchi, and Miwa lost their spot on the active roster in favor of Hitoshi Yamamoto, Kato, Hashimoto, Fukuchi, and Yuichi. One day later, Keizo Kawashima was taken off the active roster. The Swallows’ active roster currently stands at 26 men, which means that 2 spots are open for a call up. Kyuko and Muranaka would be eligible to return this upcoming weekend. Yoshinori was rumored to be coming back during the Swallows’ 9 game stretch in September, but subsequent rumors have mentioned that he would not be able to return during the regular season. Tony Barnette was supposed to be shut down for 3 weeks at the beginning of September, so he may be coming back soon, but there is no news on Tony’s present condition.

While the moves on the offensive side are mostly cosmetic since our starting core has been fairly established, the moves on the pitching side point to a team in flux. We’re starting to run out of quality starters and we’ll have to hand the ball to a group of younger unproven relievers if the starters can’t go deep. The absence of Kyuko and Barnette also puts a lot of pressure on the shoulders of Matsuoka and Oshimoto late in the game in key situations. Our current rotation is Tateyama, Masubuchi, Akagawa, Hitoshi Yamamoto (?), and Ishikawa (assuming he returns tomorrow). Not quite the rotation that got us here.

Retirement News: We’ve already covered the retirement announcement of Aaron Guiel, but two more Swallows announced their intention to retire after the season. Hirotoshi Ishii and Osamu Hamanaka will be retiring after the season.

Hirotoshi Ishii

Hirotoshi Ishii is a life-long Swallow that was drafted in the 4th round of the 1995 draft. Starting in 1999, Ishii started getting regular playing time as a lefty arm out of the bullpen. He had a breakout season in 2002 in which he appeared in a league high 69 games, and posted a 1.51 ERA with a 0.84 WHIP, on his way to be named Most Valuable Reliever. Ishii and Ryota Igarashi made up the duo ‘Rocket Boys’ as the top lefty/righty pair out of the bullpen after the departure of Shingo Takatsu in 2004. Beyond his play with the Swallows, Ishii has played for Japan in the 2004 Olympics and the inaugural World Baseball Classic in 2006. Ishii had always expressed a strong desire to play in the Majors, but the team would not post him. The team initially promised to post him after the 2004 season, but reneged on the promise after the team changed managers in the off-season. The team finally promised to post Ishii after the 2006 season if he pitched one more full season. Unfortunately, Ishii injured his shoulder during that season and would not pitch at the top level again. Ishii has been rehabbing his shoulder ever since and has appeared in a handful of ni-gun games over the years. Ishii announced his decision to retire on the 29th and thanked the club for giving him the opportunity to try to return to baseball.

Osamu Hamanaka joined the Swallows prior to this season as a potential right handed bat off the bench. After a hot spring, Hamanaka was the team’s opening day stater in left field but lost the job to Hatakeyama after only 3 games. Hamanaka was drafted in 1996 by the Tigers and spent 11 years with the club before moving to the Orix Buffaloes in 2008. Since 2003, Hamanaka has been bothered by a right shoulder injury which has kept him out of the line up on and off for years. Hamanaka cited the injury and his inability to give it his all on the field as reasons for retiring after the season.

Quo Vadimus

The Schedule Up Ahead: The Swallows are about to start a stretch in which they will play 12 games in 12 days. Things will kick off at the Kyocera Dome tomorrow with a 3 game series against the Tigers, followed by a 3 game weekend series at Jingu. Then, the Swallows will travel to Nagoya for a critical 4 game series against the Dragons which may decide the pennant race. The marathon will cap off with a rain make up game against the Tigers at Jingu, followed by another make up game at Yokohama. After that insane stretch, the Swallows will get 2 days off before visiting Koshien for a game, and a game at Nagoya the next day. The Swallows will have 5 days rest before finally wrapping up their regular season with a home game at home.

Win Percentage Table: The final standing are calculated by winning percentage in which ties do not count, formula is W%=W/(144-T).. Therefore a team with 14 ties will have their winning percentage calculated out of 130 games, rather than 144 games.  Thus, with the season winding down, you can make a table of what the team’s win percentage will be depending on their record in the remaining games. Using the table you can see how you compare with other teams depending on their records. Thus we present the win percentage tables as of October 3rd for the top 4 teams in the Central League.

The first thing you may notice is that the Swallows have already guaranteed themselves a winning season. The table also illustrates the gulf that exists between the Swallows and the Tigers, meaning the Swallows’ place in the Climax series is quite safe. You can also use the table to figure out the minimum number of wins the team will need depending on how they do in a head to head. So if the Swallows take 4 out of 5 games from the Dragons, the Dragons would finish with a .5735 winning percentage if they win all their other games. Thus, the Swallows would need to go 5-5 in their other games to finish above the Dragons. Obviously, as games get played you can eliminate possible records and narrow the list of scenarios. If any teams tie the table will need to be reworked to lower the denominator.

Retirement Ceremony Scenarios: The team has traditionally used the last home game of the year to recall the retiring players to the top team to give them one last chance to play at Jingu and give the fans a chance to say goodbye. While imports have typically not received this kind of treatment, the team has hinted that they would try to work something out with Guiel in response to the outpouring of support by the fans. However, this year, depending on where we end up in the standings the team may not be able to afford removing an active player from the roster lest we lose their services for the beginning of the playoffs. Because players removed from the active roster cannot be re-added for 10 days, the team will have to know their playoff situation at least 10 days prior to their first Climax Series game (Oct. 29 for round 1, Nov. 2 for round 2).

Hoping for some more fun times!

Tokyo Swallows 4

Yokohama BayStars 3

Streak: Won 1   Last 5: WWLLW

(Yokohama Stadium)

After watching its young pitchers get knocked about the park for the past two days, Tokyo looked to salvage a bit of pride against the recently very feisty BayStars.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	F	H	E
Tokyo	0	0	0	1	1	2	0	0	0	4	12	1
Yokohama	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	1	3	10	0
W: Hidaka (2-0) L: Takasaki (5-14) S: Lim (30)

	Tokyo		Yokohama
1	Aoki CF	1	Shimozono LF
2	Fukuchi LF	2	Watanabe SS
3	Kawabata SS	3	Tsutsugoh 1B
4	Hatakeyama 1B	4	Murata 3B
5	Balentien RF	5	Naito RF
6	Miyamoto 3B	6	Matsumoto CF
7	Tanaka 2B	7	Fujita 2B
8	Aikawa C	8	Hosoyamada C
9	Yamamoto P	9	Takasaki P

Tokyo opened the scoring on a solo Hatakeyama effort into the very top of the bleachers in left in the top of the fourth. His 23rd homer of the year made it 1-0 Tokyo.

But Yokohama answered in the bottom of the inning in the form of a Murata bomb into the visitor’s section. 1-1.

Straight pudding.

Then it was Tokyo’s turn. Aikawa’s second single in as many at-bats was followed by a Yamamoto sac bunt and an Aoki RBI double to put the Swallows back in front. 2-1 Tokyo.

But the home side replied once again. Watanabe’s two out infield single was later rewarded with an Aikawa throwing error when Watanabe was in the process of swiping second. Tsutsugoh then lofted one high off the wall in left for a double and the satisfaction of again leveling the score. 2-2.

Tokyo up again in the top of the sixth. After two outs from Hatakeyama and Balentien, Miyamoto, Tanaka and Aikawa showered left field with a double, a single and another double to plate two more runs and put the Swallows back in the lead. 4-2 Tokyo.

Yokohama didn’t answer for a while, but things got hairy in the bottom of the ninth with Lim on the mound trying to protecting the two run lead. After getting the first out on a pop fly to short, pinch-hitter, Aranami, fouled off most of what he saw and finally poked a grounder through the gap between short and third.

That was promptly followed by a soft Ide grounder to short that was a little too slow to be picked up and turned into an out. Shimozono then hit a fielder’s choice to short that very nearly became a game-ending 6-4-3 double play, but the throw to first didn’t make it in time, and the result was runners on the corners with two outs. Very unlucky for Lim, and bad news for Tokyo.

Watanabe then came to the plate representing the winning run. The 3-1 pitch is when he finally came through for the home team with a tricky one-hopper to Kawabata’s left. He got a glove on it, but couldn’t keep it in front of him, and Aranami scored from third. 3-2 Tokyo.

Runners on first and second, and Tsutsugoh at the plate. Tsutsugoh, who had already doubled twice off the wall in left, took a heavy swipe at the first high fastball he saw, and he  swung again at the next heater which was low and away. Both were fouled off behind him to temporarily put Lim in the driver’s seat.

But it wasn’t until Tsutsugoh had worked the count to 2-2 that Lim finally got a batter to swing at something in the dirt. This time it was a forkball, and the win was preserved. 3-2 Final.

Yamamoto (1-6; 3.96 ERA) didn’t figure in the final scoreline after throwing 90 pitches through four and two-thirds innings. He gave up two earned runs off of five hits and mixed in two strikeouts, four walks and a single wild pitch.

Instead, Hidaka got the win for his third of an inning and six pitches of work. It was his second win of the season, and his ERA budged slightly to 7.04.

Oshimoto (2.83 ERA) just barely held things together in the sixth before pitching a much more confident seventh, and Matsuoka (2.56) came through with a 1-2-3 inning in the eighth.

Lim recorded his 30th save of the 2011 season, and the one earned run pushed his ERA up to 2.25 through 59 appearances.

Tanaka, who was batting seventh for the first time in a long time, was selected as the hero of the game for his three hits and one RBI (the go-ahead run in the sixth). Aikawa had a similar day at the plate going 3-4 with an RBI of his own. Aoki and Kawabata also had multi-hit games with the former adding an RBI in the top of the fifth.

Tokyo have the day off tomorrow and will take on the Hanshin Tigers at Koshien from Tuesday to Thursday. They’ll be back at Jingu on Friday through Sunday for a three game series against the fifth place Hiroshima Carp.

Notes:

Thankfully the Swallows didn’t face pitching of the caliber that they saw on Friday. Yokohama’s Miura was his old self during that game. In this afternoon’s game, however, Tokyo faced friendlier pitching and outhit Yokohama 12-10.

Hatakeyama leads the league in RBIs (82) and walks (69).

Lim has reached the 30 save mark for the third time since joining Tokyo for the 2008 season.

Tanaka can be a good hitter when he doesn't have to bunt all the time.

]]> http://tokyoswallows.com/2011/10/02/10211-yokohama-away/feed/ 0 http://tokyoswallows.com/2011/10/01/10111-yokohama-away/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=10111-yokohama-away http://tokyoswallows.com/2011/10/01/10111-yokohama-away/#comments Sat, 01 Oct 2011 14:05:52 +0000 Kozo http://tokyoswallows.com/?p=10787 October 1st, 2011

Tokyo Swallows 3

Yokohama BayStars 10

Streak: Lost 2   Last 5: WWWLL

(Yokohama Stadium)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	F	H	E
Swallows	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	3	10	0
BayStars	0	0	0	1	2	3	1	3	X	10	14	0
WP: S. Ohara (4-1) LP: T. Yamamoto (0-1)

Things were not pretty as the Swallows’ young bullpen arms were exposed to the BayStars’ bats.

	Swallows		BayStars
1	CF Aoki	1	LF Shimozono
2	2B Tanaka	2	SS Watanabe
3	SS Kawabata	3	1B Tsutsugo
4	1B Hatakeyama	4	3B Murata
5	RF Balentien	5	RF Ikki
6	3B Miyamoto	6	CF Ide
7	LF Iihara	7	2B Fujita
8	C Aikawa	8	C Kurobane
9	P Akagawa	9	P Kobayashi

Akagawa seemed to have a handle of things in the early going. Even the solo homerun he gave up to Tsutsugo to open the bottom of the fourth didn’t seem too bad, as he followed up with back-to-back strikeouts and a quick fly out to end the inning. 1-0 BayStars What was more worrying was that the Swallows’ offense had been held hitless through 4 innings.

However just one inning later things went crazy for Akagawa. After getting a quick fly out from Fujita, Akagawa allowed a single to Kurobane to put men on base. The BayStars elected to bunt with their pitcher to make it 2 out with a man on second. The nightmare would begin as Akagawa lost a 8 pitch battle with Shimozono and walked the left fielder. Akagawa would then load the bases by plunking Watanabe after only 3 pitches. Akagawa’s day ended 4 pitches later after he walked Tsutsugo to push home a run. 2-0 BayStars Oshimoto came in for Akagawa, and couldn’t do much better than Akagawa, allowing a 5 pitch walk to Murata to bring home another run. 3-0 BayStars Oshimoto did manage to get the final out of the inning, but the damage was done.

The Swallows roared back the next inning with a rally. Aoki stated things off with a hard liner straight at the third baseman, but certainly made Kobayashi seem hittable. Hiroyasu followed with a single over the second baseman’s head. Kawabata dropped a single in front of the left fielder to make it 1 out with men on first and second. Kobayashi battled Hatakeyama for 8 pitches but lost as he walked Hatake to load the bases. After falling behind 2-1 to Balentien, the Curaçaoan punished a low fastball and sent it scorching to left field for a single that scored Tanaka and Kawabata. 3-2 BayStars Thus ended Kobayashi’s night and the BayStars sent Ejiri to the mound. Ejiri managed to jam Miyamoto on 2 pitches, but the veteran’s ball managed to bloop into right for a single to load the bases. Iihara followed with a high chopper to that the shortstop had no choice but to throw to first. Iihara managed to beat the throw despite sliding head-first into the bag. Meanwhile, Hatakeyama scored easily from third. 3-3 All Ejiri struck out Aikawa for out number 2, and the Swallows elected to send out Whitesell to the plate. The BayStars elected to send lefty Shinji Ohara to the plate, and the Swallows responded by replacing Whitesell with Fukukawa. While Whitesell’s .207 average against left-handers is low, Fukukawa did not seem like the ideal replacement. Looking through the available bench players and their lefty/righty split it would seem like left hander Morioka may have been the best choice, if we were intent on replacing Whitesell. Fukukawa struck out looking to end the inning and the threat for the Swallows.

The BayStars responded immediately with a surge of their own as Ide and Fujita opened the bottom of the inning with back-to-back singles against Tetsuya Yamamoto. A Kurobane bunt, and a Nakamura strikeout made it 2 out with men in scoring position for the ever dangerous Shimozono. Shimozono smoked a 1-1 offering down the right field line to score 2, and put himself on second. 5-3 BayStars Watanabe followed with a fly ball over the head of Aoki, who was playing shallow, to score Shimozono. 6-3 BayStars Hidaka came in and got the final out.

The Swallows got multiple runners in the seventh, eighth, and ninth but could not get them around to score. Meanwhile the BayStars got 1 extra run in the seventh off Kosuke Matsui, and 3 extra runs in the eighth off Okamoto and Ichiba. The details are not too relevant, the only thing you should know is that Hidaka’s one batter appearance was the only one of the night which did not allow an earned run or an inherited runner to score. Overall the Swallows pitchers allowed 20 H+BB+HBP, not a sexy night… 10-3 Baystars FINAL

The Dragons won their game against the Tigers to shrink the CL pennant race gap to 2 games. No word on the condition of Ishikawa, but Data Stadium is projecting a Hitoshi Yamamoto start from the Swallows in game 3 of this BayStars series in Yokohama. One can only hope that the pitching will get better or that the Swallows offense will better capitalize on the chances that the BayStars pitchers tend to give up.

Not a great day to be a Swallows' pitcher.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 2

Chunichi Dragons 3

Streak: Lost 2  Last 5: WWTLL

(Nagoya Dome)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	F	H	E
Swallows	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	11	0
Chunichi	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	X	3	5	1
W: Yoshimi (15-3) L: Tateyama (10-3) S: Iwase (31)

The Swallows landed in Nagoya looking to create some distance between them and the second place Dragons. The Dragons, on the other hand, were playing their first game after learning of the impending departure of their strict but super successful manager. Both teams sent their ace to the mound with the Swallows starting Tateyama, and the Dragons starting Yoshimi.

	Swallows		Dragons
1	CF Aoki	1	2B Araki
2	2B Tanaka	2	SS Ibata
3	SS Kawabata	3	3B Morino
4	1B Hatakeyama	4	1B Blanco
5	LF Takeuchi	5	C Tanishige
6	3B Miyamoto	6	LF T. Donoue
7	RF Balentien	7	RF Hirata
8	C Aikawa	8	CF Oshima
9	P Tateyama	9	P Yoshimi

The Swallows started things off with an Aoki single, and a Tanaka bunt over to second. With 52 sac bunts Hiroyasu is slowly, but surely, approaching Miyamoto’s NPB record of 67 sac bunts in a season. Kawabata was walked to bring Hatakeyama up to bat with one out with men on first and second. Hatake did his job by working the count full by fouling off 7 pitches, getting a pitch to hit, and sending that pitch into left field to score Aoki for the go ahead run. 1-0 Swallows Takeuchi DIDN’T do his job grounding out to Yoshimi for a 1-6-3 after battling for 8 pitches.

The Swallows got another chance in the third after Tanaka, Kawabata, and Hatake got consecutive 2 out singles to load the bases. Unfortunately, Takeuchi wasn’t able to deliver the key blow and the Swallows couldn’t extend their lead.

Meanwhile, Tateyama was having an uncharacteristically shaky night on the mound. While the ace had a no hitter going through 5 innings, he had allowed a decidedly un-Tateyama like 3 walks through those innings. Things finally came to a head in the sixth inning. Things started ominously with a lead off walk to Araki on 4 straight pitches. Ibata bunted Araki over to second for the first out. It looked like Tateyama would be able to work his way out of the jam after he got Morino to pop out to Hiroyasu for out number 2. But after falling behind early to Blanco, the Dominican ended Tateyama’s no-hitter with a sharp line drive single to left to score Araki. 1-1 All Tanishige followed with a double off the center field wall to score Blanco and put the Dragons ahead. 2-1 Dragons The Dragons managed to end Tateyama’s night once Donoue followed Tanishige with a RBI single. 3-1 Swallows Oshimoto came in for Tateyama and ended up loading the bases with an infield hit by Hirata and a walk to Oshima, but he managed to get the job done against Yoshimi, inducing a ground out.

The Swallows got hits in both the seventh and eighth but couldn’t take back the lead. Matsuoka and Tetsuya Yamamoto pitched the seventh and eighth, respectively and managed to keep the Dragons off the board despite allowing multiple runners in their respective innings.

It came down to the ninth inning, with the Dragons sending out Iwase to close the game. Miyamoto struck out for out number 1. But Balentien and Aikawa hit back-to-back singles to give hope to the good guys. Keizo Kawashima wasn’t able to follow with a hit, but did manage to move Balentien to third with a fielder’s choice to first. Balentien scored after Aoki singled to center. 3-2 Dragons With two out and men on first and second Hiroyasu sent a 1-0 pitch to straight away center but Oshima was able to track the hit for the final out.

Notes

• The win puts the Dragons within 3.5 games of the Swallows with 3 more games left to play in the series.
• The Swallows outhit the Dragons 11-5, but allowed 8 total walks to the Dragons. The Dragons only allowed 1 walk.
• The Dragons have now won their last 3 games.

Tateyama had a rough night on the mound.

Yokohama BayStars 0

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 2

Streak: Won 1 Last 5: WLWTW

(Jingu Stadium)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	F	H	E
BayStars	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
Swallows	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	X	2	4	0
WP: Akagawa (1-0) LP: Leach (1-3) S: Barnette (1)

The Swallows decide to save Tateyama for more important teams (i.e. the Giants) and start Akagawa against the BayStars. Whitesell was again benched in favor of Miyade with a southpaw on the mound, and Aikawa was again benched in favor of Kawamoto. With the recent call up of young Nakamura we have to wonder if Aikawa is suffering from some sort of injury. Of course, optimists will point to Kawamoto’s history with Akagawa on the farm team. But enough with lineup commentary, let’s get on with the report! (What little there is to report.)

	BayStars		Swallows
1	RF Shimozono	1	CF Aoki
2	SS Ishikawa	2	2B Tanaka
3	LF Sledge	3	SS Kawabata
4	3B Murata	4	1B Hatakeyama
5	1B Harper	5	RF Balentien
6	CF Kinjo	6	3B Miyamoto
7	2B Fujita	7	LF Miyade
8	C Hosoyamada	8	C Kawamoto
9	P Leach	9	P Akagawa

Akagawa was making his third career start after finding a comfortable niche as a long reliever with the team this season. While Akagawa struggled with his control, walking 3 and hitting 2 batters, he managed to clean up his miscues with timely strikeouts (7 for the night). The offense also did their part to relieve some pressure from the young southpaw by scoring quickly in the bottom of the first. After Aoki grounded out, Hiroyasu hit a triple to put a man on third with just one out. Kawabta cashed him in immediately with a single for the Swallows’ lead. 1-0 Swallows

Despite the low score the game dragged as both pitchers, especially Brent Leach, had trouble locating the strike zone and got behind in the count often. But neither side really capitalized on on the other’s mistakes causing the game to drag at a snail’s pace without much excitement. The only other moment of excitement came in the bottom of the fourth when “BayStar Killer” Balentien came up to bat with one out. True to his newfound nickname, Balentien took the first pitch he saw and hit it into left field to extend the Swallows’ lead. 2-0 Swallows

The rest was a relatively boring pitcher’s duel with neither offense truly threatening to score. Matsuoka, Kyuko, Oshimoto, and Barnette held down the fort the rest of the way. As did Sanada, Onuma, and Ohara for the BayStars.

Akagawa got his first career win for his 5.2 innings of work, allowing 4 hits and the aforementioned walks and hit batsmen. Leach didn’t fare much worse in his 5.2 innings, allowing only 4 hits of his own and walking 4, while striking out 3.

Notes

• The Swallows will now face the Giants in a 3 game series at Tokyo Dome with Tateyama, Muranaka, and Yoshinori as probable starters.
• Leach managed to get 2 pickoffs in tonight’s game. The first in the second inning off an apparent Balentien mental lapse, and the second off Kawabata in the sixth.
• Balentien’s solo homer was the 10th he’s hit off the BayStars in 14 games played between the 2 teams.
• The Carp managed to complete their sweep of the Tigers and now sit in third place in a virtual tie with the Giants who sit in second. Only 1 game separates the fifth place Dragons with the second place Giants. Meanwhile, the Swallows sit 6 games above the fray.

Balentien hit a home run for the 4th game in a row.

Tokyo Swallows 7

Hanshin Tigers 8

Streak: Lost 1    Last 5: WLLWL

(Jingu)

This game was a disaster, and then suddenly at the end it became a farce.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	F	H	E
Hanshin	0	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	5	8	16	3
Tokyo	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	6	7	11	1

One thousand yen for a ticket to this very important game. Several thousand yen for drinks. 700 yen for pizza and about 900 yen to get to the stadium and back by train.

And Ogawa puts a 300 yen team on the field.

	Hanshin		Tokyo
1	RF - Murton	1	CF - Aoki
2	CF - Hirano	2	SS - K. Kawashima
3	SS - Toritani	3	2B - Tanaka
4	3B - Arai	4	1B - Hatakeyama
5	1B - Brazell	5	LF - Miyade
6	LF - Kanemoto	6	3B - Miyamoto
7	2B - Uemoto	7	RF - Balentien
8	C - Fujii	8	C - Aikawa
9	P - Iwata	9	P - R. Kawashima

OK, 300 yen is a bit harsh, but this was definitely not the best lineup we could have fielded for a game that we needed to win so badly. The team is a shocking 3-8-1 so far this month, so tinkering with the lineup probably should have been saved until Yokohama comes to town on Tuesday.

Sorry, I’ll try to be a bit more specific. You probably won’t recall, but the last time Ryo Kawashima started a top team game was May 7th of last year when the sun was setting on the Takada era. He gave up only one run in six innings of work during that performance (after which he was moved to the bullpen), so many were cautiously optimistic that he could provide some mid-summer stability to the Swallows rotation.

However, I think I speak for everyone here at Tsubamegun when I stress that starting pitching is not what ails the team at the moment.

Anyway, for those that are wondering, Kawashima has appeared in only five games (20 1/3 innings) so far in 2011 on the

Maybe he should have rejoined the top team as a middle reliever.

farm team. His balky shoulder has allowed him to amass a 0-1 record (with one save) and a 3.10 ERA.

So yes. A game against second place Hanshin was probably not the best time to thrust Kawashima back into the spotlight, especially with our bullpen suffering from overuse.

But fortunately he was on a short leash, so the damage from the experiment was somewhat limited.

The extent of Kawashima’s tenure on the mound went something like this:

In the top of the first inning, Hanshin loaded the bases with two outs care of a pair of singles and a walk, but Kawashima escaped by inducing Kanemoto to fly out harmlessly in foul territory.

In the bottom of that inning, Aoki’s lead-off single was followed by a Keizo Kawashima Tak-bunt, so you can probably imagine how that inning ended–quickly and with Aoki still standing on second.

In the second inning, both teams sent only three batters to the plate, but it was in the top of the third that things got a little sketchy for Kawashima.

Murton started things off with a stand-up double to left, and he was moved over to third on Hirano’s single. Run number one crossed home plate on a Toritani sac fly to left, and run number two came around on Arai’s double off the wall in center. 2-0 Hanshin.

And then a game of intensive musical-players began as most of the available players (22 out of 25 players) found their way onto the playing field before the end of this contest.

Akagawa pitched a nice and brief fourth inning, but he got roughed up a little in the fifth (one earned run off of three hits). 3-0 Hanshin.

Tokyo finally got one back in the sixth when Balentien came to the plate with one out. He absolutely slaughtered the first pitch he saw, an outside slider, high into the multitudes of yellow and pink clad Hanshin supporters crammed into the left field cheap seats. 3-1 Hanshin.

The game quieted down a bit after that as the Tigers were retired in order in the seventh and eighth innings. Frustratingly, the Tokyo bats continued to disappoint as we could only manage a runner on first in both of those crucial innings. I use the word crucial because it is possible to get one run back off of Fujikawa (Hanshin’s closer), but scoring two on him is not something that happens very often (unless it’s a playoff game).

And then came an absolutely bizarre ninth inning.

Hanshin 9th:

After retiring the side in the eighth, Oshimoto retook the mound for the Swallows to try and hasten Fujikawa’s entry to face Tokyo’s last stand. However, while that is indeed what eventually happened, the plan was not enacted with anything resembling haste.

Pinch-hitter, Shibata, led off with a single, and then Murton induced a fielding error with a tricky rocket into Kawabata’s zone at short. Both runners advanced. Runners on second and third and no outs.

Then Hirano singled to bring Shibata home from third. 4-1.

Out goes the overused Oshimoto. In comes the even more overused Barnette.

Tony got the first out of the inning on an easy Toritani pop-up that was reeled in by Miyamoto on the third base line, but then things got ugly.

Arai singled, Brazell doubled (two runners scored), and Shunsuke hit a fielder’s choice grounder to Tanaka’s left at second that secured out number two but let another runner come around to score. 7-1.

Hanshin’s final run of the night was produced care of a Hiyama single to center which also brought an end to Barnette’s evening on the mound. 8-1 Hanshin.

Watanabe was brought in to throw two pitches and record the final out.

Tokyo 9th:

With Fukuhara on the mound for Hanshin, Takeuchi worked a six-pitch walk without swinging his bat once. But then Aoki hit what looked like a double-play ball that forced Takuchi out at second. Fortunately, Aoki was able to beat the throw at first.

Incidentally, that was the fourth time in the game that Tokyo produced a double-play ball that Hanshin couldn’t seal the deal on. Balentien beat throws to first in both the second and eighth innings, while Kawashima did the same in the fifth. Takeuchi wasn’t so lucky in the sixth when he ended the inning with a 6-4-3 GIDP. Lots of self-induced momentum-killing by the Swallows in this game.

Shibata allows the game to continue. Three runs scored on this drop.

But the Swallows would benefit from a lot of Hanshin philanthropy in this inning, so stay with me here for another minute or so.

The first two runs were earned. Whitesell lined one over the wall in center on a 2-1 forkball to remind the home crowd that the team can score runs occasionally. 8-3.

But then every run that followed was unearned. And it was hilarious.

Tanaka drew a walk to restart the momentum, and Hatakeyama was able to reach first when it was left uncovered on his weak grounder past the mound.

Kawabata then loaded the bases with a single to right which brought Miyamoto to the plate and Fujikawa to the mound. With the tying run standing in the on-deck circle, mystically it was a save situation once again.

Miyamoto was fed a steady diet of fastballs in an eight-pitch battle, and he eventually went down swinging late when expecting a forkball. Two outs.

Balentien’s turn. He’d displayed a knack for getting on base all night, even if the team’s situation didn’t necessarily improve as a result, and this at-bat was no different. Fujikawa stayed outside throughout the entire at-bat, and Balentien sliced the 1-2 pitch high into the night sky for what should have been the game-ending out.

But center-fielder, Shibata, dropped it. Three runners crossed home plate and Balentien reached second. 8-6.

Now this is the type of situation where Fujikawa tends to implode…if you let him. He’s kind of like Kroon was in that sense. Once a couple of things go wrong, he’ll just keep digging the hole deeper and deeper. And he’ll be on the verge of tears which can be quite comical.

Case in point: on one of the outside forkballs that Fujikawa threw to Kawamoto (pinch-hitting for Aikawa), Balentien was able to trot home all the way from second as the ball ended up nearly in the Swallows dugout. Fujikawa was charged with a wild pitch, and it was just up to Kawamoto to find a way around the bags to tie the game. 8-7.

And find a way on base he did. With a little help of course. He slapped a high forkball sharply at Arai who fumbled it and allowed the surprisingly fleet-footed backstop to sneak onto first base.

Pinch-runner, Miwa, then easily stole second on a 2-1 fastball.

But Fujikawa pulled himself together in the end and tricked Takeuchi into swinging at a forkball in the dirt to

Kawamoto (r) and Takeuchi (l) beckon Balentien home.

end the game with the tying run standing on second.

Ugh:

Those of us in attendance agreed that it was very enjoyable watching the Tigers squirm so much there at the end. But the game still hits the books as a loss, and that means that the Swallows are a laughable 1-5 against what is currently their most serious threat in the Central League.

Monday is a day off and Tuesday marks the beginning of a three-game series against cellar-dwelling Yokohama.

Notes:

Why Whitesell was not starting is anyone’s guess. His pinch-hit homer in the ninth was a sure reminder that his bat needs to be in the lineup.

On a related note, I would like to gently remind those in charge of making roster decisions that Miyade has always been, and likely will always be, a bench player. We traded him to Rakuten for a pitcher, remember? And then he got cut by Rakuten…and for some reason we re-signed him, remember? The fact that he’s had a little bit of success pinch-hitting does not mean that he deserves a start (yet). Especially with Ryo Kawashima on the mound.

To Miyade’s credit, however, he went 1-3 with a single. Plus he’s the tallest guy on the team, so that’s worth something.

If Keizo Kawashima continues to start at short, hopefully it only happens on days when Miyamoto is taking a rest. Incidentally, I much prefer having Keizo perform Tak-bunt duties than wasting Tanaka’s talents on such a role. And I promise that his batting average will not stay above .300 for long.

As predicted, Lim is taking a rest on the farm team. With their game appearances nearing 40, don’t be too surprised if something similar soon happens to our middle-relief soldiers (Kyuko, Matsuoka, Oshimoto and Barnette).

Tonight was the only game of this series in which the Swallows were outhit. Iwata deserves credit for five solid innings though. He gave up only four hits and didn’t allow Tokyo to get on the board.

Of Tokyo’s seven runs, only three were earned.

Of Hanshin’s 18,000 plus fans, only seven are working on Monday.

The official attendance for tonight’s game was 29,125 (there was a bit more elbow room in the right field bleachers than on Friday and Saturday).

The game lasted a ridiculously long four hours and twelve minutes.

Tokyo is now a mere four games clear of Hanshin at the top of the Central League.

]]> http://tokyoswallows.com/2011/08/14/81411-hanshin-home/feed/ 1 http://tokyoswallows.com/2011/07/12/71211-chunichi-home/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=71211-chunichi-home http://tokyoswallows.com/2011/07/12/71211-chunichi-home/#comments Tue, 12 Jul 2011 13:26:31 +0000 David Watkins http://tokyoswallows.com/?p=9576 July 12th, 2011

Chunichi Dragons 4

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 6

Streak: Won 2    Last 5: WWLWW

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

With a home series against the second placed Dragons presenting the Swallows with the chance to further extend their lead at the CL summit, they took full advantage as Shichijo (with the help of ample run support) won his first game at Jingu.

Us:

1. Aoki (CF)
   

   Kawabata brings home his third run of the game in the 5th

2. Tanaka (2B)
3. Whitesell (1B)
4. Hatakeyama (LF)
5. Balentien (RF)
6. Miyamoto (3B)
7. Kawabata (SS)
8. Kawamoto (C)
9. Shichijo (P)

Them:

1. Oshima (CF)
2. T.Iwasaki (SS)
3. Morino (3B)
4. Wada (LF)
5. T.Donoue (RF)
6. Koike (1B)
7. Araki (2B)
8. Oda (C)
9. Nelson (P)

In truth, both starters in this one proved to be eminently hittable, but it was Nelson who was the first to concede in the 2nd.

After Hatake grounded out to short for out number one, consecutive singles from Balentien and Miyamoto put two men on to set the table for Kawabata. The shortstop didn’t pass up the opportunity to dine, as he hit a double to the rightfield wall, scoring both runners for 2-0 Tokyo. Kawamoto then hit a sharp one up the middle but a diving Araki managed to get a glove to it but the runners were safe with a Shichijo sac bunt putting both men in scoring positions.

Next up was Aoki, and he hit a grounder to first, but he just beat the base covering Nelson to the bag and Tokyo had themselves another run for 3-0. Tanaka wrapped up the inning with a flyout to centre.

But Shichijo would let Chunichi on the board in the 3rd, as a Oshima double and a Morino single up the middle made it 3-1. And the Dragons cut the lead to just the one run in the top of the 4th, though this time it was Araki with the double and Oda with the run scoring single for 3-2.

If there’s one thing the rookie starter has not lacked in his three starts to date it’s run support, and this was further illustrated in the bottom of the 4th. With one out on the board, Kawamoto reached first courtesy of a dead ball only for Shichijo to strike out for out number two trying to lay down a bunt. Aoki was next up and he hit one off the wall in right for a double to make it 4-2, and advanced to third on the throw home that was just too late to stop Kawamoto.

Tanaka then once again proved he has so much more to offer than the humble bunt as he hit to left to score Aoki and give Shichijo more breathing room with the score now at 5-2.

Shichijo escapes his 5th inning jam

However he again couldn’t keep Chunichi off the board in what would prove to be his final inning in the 5th. With no outs, a single for Oshima and a double for Iwasaki put Shichijo in somewhat of a pinch with two men in scoring positions. But he recovered well with two strikeouts and just a run scoring groundout from Wada putting the score at 5-3 when it could have been much worse.

Shichijo’s final line: 5IP/73P/8H/2K/1BB/3ER.

Tokyo added their final run of the night off Dragons’ reliever Suzuki in the bottom of the 5th. Back to back singles for Hatake and Balentien set things rolling, but only Kawabata managed to bring anything home with a single up the line to right for 6-3.

Oshimoto (2.96) came in to pitch the 6th, and gave up one run off one hit after initially letting leadoff man Koike on base with a double, 6-4.

After that the bullpen kept the Dragons at bay. In the 7th Matsuoka (4.03) gave up a single but two strikeouts helped him leave the runner stranded at first.

In the 8th is was the turn of setup man Tony Barnette (0.96), and he induced two flyouts and a strikeout for the only inning of the evening in which Chunichi didn’t get a man on board.

And so to the 9th with Lim (1.71) on the mound, and the ace closer put in a shift not too dissimilar to a lot of his performances of late, not looking particularly sharp, allowing a man on via a leadoff single, but ultimately doing enough to bring home the win and earn his 18th save of the season, 6-4 Tokyo Final.

The win puts the birds 5 games clear atop the CL. And hurrah to that.

Shichijo took the win to put his record at 2-3/3.50.

Tokyo outhit their opposition 13-11 with Aoki (.320), Hatake (.295), Balentien (.266), Miyamoto (.304) and Kawabata (.287) all registering two hits each with Kawabata’s three RBI haul earning him the game’s hero award.

And yes you did read that right, Balentien hit two well taken singles, which is maybe the way out of his hitting slump (contact hitting), given that he got so little of quality to hit from the Chunichi pitchers tonight (breaking ball low and outside is all he saw 90% of the time).

Whitesell (.276) went 1 for 4 with 1 K this evening.

The two teams will be back again tomorrow evening, with Shohei Tateyama the likely starter for Tokyo.

Yokohama BayStars 1

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 4

Streak: Won 2    Last 5: LWLWW

(Meiji Jingu Stadium)

Tokyo took a second game on the trot from the visiting BayStars. Unlike last night, however, they assumed control of the game much earlier on and let the bullpen bring the win home.

YB:

1. Ishikawa (SS)
2. Morimoto (CF)
3. Sledge (LF)
4. Murata (3B)
5. Nakamura (1B)
6. Watanabe (2B)
7. Yoshimura (RF)
8. Takeyama (C)
9. Yamamoto (P)

TS:

1. Aoki (CF)
2. Tanaka (2B)
3. Whitesell (1B)
4. Hatakeyama (LF)
5. Balentien (RF)
6. Miyamoto (3B)
7. Kawabata (SS)
8. Aikawa (C)
9. Ishikawa (P)

Tokyo got off to what looked like a promising start in the first by loading the bases. Aoki’s lead-off single was followed by a Tanaka Tak-bunt. A second out soon came in the form of a Whitesell groundout to the catcher. But Hatakeyama and Balentien both worked bunts to load the bases with two outs. However, Miyamoto could only ground out to short to end the threat and the inning.

And the birds put two more runners on base in the second, but nobody crossed home plate yet again to leave five men stranded in the first two frames.

But things finally got going in the third after Ishikawa notched his second 1-2-3 inning of the game.

Hatakeyama and Whitesell came through with consecutive singles before the first out arrived care of a grounder to second. Miyamoto’s single to right plated Whitesell, and Kawabata earned an RBI on his 5-3 groundout. 2-0 Tokyo.

After Ishikawa got three outs on three pop flies in the top of the fourth, Tokyo got back to business in the home portion of that inning. Ishikawa singled to center to begin the embarrassment, and an out and a walk later, Whitesell was able to notch an RBI on his second hit in as many at bats. Hatakeyama then brought Tanaka around to score on an RBI single of his own before Coco ended the inning via GIDP. 4-0 Tokyo.

Yokohama got one back in the top of the fifth, and Ishikawa was once again saved by his uncanny ability to get the outs when he truly needs them. This time he benefited from an inning-ending double play. 4-1 Final.

Ishikawa got the win on six innings of work and his record now stands at five wins and four losses. His ERA improved slightly to 2.69, and the one earned run came off of seven hits, five Ks and a single walk.

Oshimoto (3.66 ERA), Barnette (1.35) and Lim (1.48) all pitched scoreless innings in relief with Lim recording his 15th save in the process.

Tokyo out hit Yokohama 12-8 in this contest with Hatakeyama leading the way on 3-3 hitting with an RBI and a walk. Miyamoto, Aoki and Whitesell chipped in with two hits apiece.

The final game of this home stand against Yokohama starts tomorrow at 2 PM where Tokyo will attempt to complete the sweep and stay firmly on top of the Central League standings.