Chunichi Dragons 7

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 5

Streak: Lost 3    Last 5: LWLLL

(Jingu Stadium)

I’m beginning to suspect that the team is losing on purpose in order to make Takada look bad in the (foolish) hope that he won’t be asked to stick around next season.

And just to get it out of the way, here it is:

TAKADA COUNT: 9

Tokyo’s starting lineup:

1. Kawashima (SS)
2. Fukuchi (LF)
3. Aoki (CF)
4. Guiel (RF)
5. Miyamoto (3B)
6. Yuichi (1B)
7. Tanaka (2B)
8. Aikawa (C)
9. Yuuki (P)

With Yuuki on the mound, the birds got behind from the get-go. The on-fire Morino singled in Araki from second base to make it 1-0 Dragons.

And things only got worse from there. In the third, Yuuki was assessed with an error after walking the lead-off man which set the stage for a bases-loaded conundrum that eventually yielded three runs. 4-0 Dragons.

The birds kept it close, however, by answering with two runs in the bottom of that inning. Aoki’s sharp one out single was followed by a booming home run by Guiel (his 19th of the season) to make it 4-2.

But with two outs and a man on in the fourth, Chunichi put together a pair of singles and a Morino double to plate two runs and extend the lead to 6-2 Dragons.

And that would be the end of Yuuki’s evening. He gave up six runs, three of them earned, in four innings of work while taking the loss. He gave up nine hits during his 80-pitch effort, and he struck out two, walked one, and beaned another to take his 2009 season record to 3-4. His ERA rose to 3.82.

Both teams went hitless in the fifth and sixth with Matsui (3.60) claiming both of those scoreless innings for the Swallows (although he did walk two batters).

In the top of the seventh, the ever pesky Morino put a little bit of an exclamation point on the board with a solo shot off of Tokyo’s second reliever, Takagi (1.50). 7-2 Chunichi.

But to his credit, the 26-year-old Takagi didn’t allow another runner reach base after that and the same was true of his work in the eighth innings as well.

Guiel came through again in the bottom of the seventh with his second home run of the game, this one a chip shot on an outside pitch that landed in the 1,900 yen seats in right. It was his second homer of the game and 20th of the season. 7-3 away team.

And Iihara added one more run in the bottom of the eighth with a two out homer to left (his fifth) that made it 7-4.

Kida (5.59) retired all three batters he faced in the top of the ninth.

And here’s where my memory fades a little bit, so I’m going to need a little help with the details. Somewhere along the line, Miyamoto was subbed out and Yoshimoto was put in the lineup. If it happened after the end of the eighth, which is what I suspect happened, then fine. But if it happened during the bottom of the ninth, then that’s a big problem.

When he was taken out of the game is beside the point actually. It is generally inadvisable to take your best players out of the lineup during a close game. Takada did the same with Aikawa, unfortunately, so instead of Miyamoto and the recently in-form Aikawa in the lineup for the crucial bottom of the ninth, we had Yoshimoto and Yoneno. Yes, Yoneno.

With Iwase on the mound to protect the three run lead, Fukuchi and Aoki put two quick hits up on the board to make things menacing.

Guiel popped up to shallow left, but in general the Swallows hitters are to be commended for being patient and allowing Iwase to get behind in the count. And to Yoshimoto’s credit, even though I just argued that Miyamoto should have been at the plate instead of him, he was able to draw a walk and load the bases with one out.

And then Hatakeyama stole the show…almost. He hit a shot to right that came within two meters of leaving the park, and the consolation prize was that Fukuchi was able to scamper home from third. 7-5 blue monsters.

Second baseman, Tanaka, after whom I am thinking of naming at least one of my future children, then drew a walk to rejuice the bases and bring the whole deal to a climax.

Now, a week or so ago, people would have packed it in right there because our catcher, Aikawa, was swinging a fan up there. But somehow, somewhere, the man has regained his swagger and looks a bit more like his old self. So all of a sudden, Tokyo fans were brimming with justifiable hope.

Except…wait! Why the hell is Yoneno coming to the plate?! How did he get in the game?! No. Stop! We don’t care if Yoneno went 2-2 on Wednesday against the Carp when he came off the bench as a sub after the team was already down 11-0!!

Takada!!! Takada!!! What the hell do you think you’re doing?! Takada!!! (It’s helpful if you imagine Dave’s voice for that last bit).

But Ochiai made Iwase hit the showers anyway, and pint-sized, Asao, one of the best pitchers in the country at the moment, came in to face our fearsome third-string catcher.

And, wouldn’t you know it, Asao’s first pitch ended up as a feeble fly ball to second base. Game over.

7-5 Final.

The star of the game for Tokyo, obviously, was Aaron Guiel who provided three rbi’s with his two home runs. Both he and Aoki reached base three times apiece. Additionally, both Miyamoto and Aikawa reached base twice in this contest. Otherwise, nothing all that impressive happened for the home team.

I’m not exactly sure what happened to the “Just Play to Win” mantra, but that’s definitely not what Takada is doing right now.

Case in point: what’s the deal with bringing Yuichi straight up from the farm to start (over Takeuchi and Hatakeyama) at first?

I’ve still got a little bit of love for the guy (even though he has hardly improved at all during the past six years), but if he’s good enough to come straight up and start, then he never should have been on the farm team in the first place.

Furthermore, there is some serious negative energy running through the team right now, and it looks as though they can’t remember how to play win. I would have a little bit of confidence that the team could pull out of this tailspin if it weren’t for the instability that has infected our starting rotation (partly of Takada’s own doing). My prediction is that the team maintains this funk for at least the next couple of weeks.

And if something doesn’t change quickly, then I don’t think it’s too much to say that the birds are a shoe-in for another fifth place finish.

Yomiuri Giants 6

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 9

Streak: Won 1    Last 5: WLWLW

(Jingu Stadium)

Can anyone remember the last time Tokyo won a three-game series? Neither can I.

The birds went into this game hoping to catch the visiting Giants napping as they desperately seek a win or two to get their season back on track.

Today’s game saw Tokyo’s Yuuki and Yomiuri’s Utsumi square off.

Tokyo’s lineup:

1. Fukuchi (LF)
2. Kawashima (SS)
3. Aoki (CF)
4. Hatakeyama (1B)
5. Iihara (RF)
6. Tanaka (2B)
7. Yoshimoto (3B)
8. Aikawa (C)
9. Yuuki (P)

Tokyo got off to a flying start when Fukuchi singled to start the game, and then Kawashima bunted to move him over. That was followed by an Aoki rbi single and a Hatakeyama single past Sakamoto at short. Iihara’s double-play ball, however, allowed Utsumi to escape without incurring any further damage. 1-0 Tokyo.

The bunt was used again in the second inning after Tanaka led off with a single, but nothing came of it because the two players following the sacrifice were the two weakest hitters in the lineup, Aikawa and Yuuki.

Kawashima came through with a one out single in the bottom of the third, and Aoki got beaned during his at-bat to put two men on with one out. Hatakeyama popped up to right for out number two, but Iihara came through with an rbi single to right that scored Kawashima. 2-0 birds.

And meanwhile, Yuuki quietly logged a perfect first three innings.

After Matsumoto singled to break up his fledgling no-hitter, Yuuki found an excuse to plunk Abe in retaliation for Aoki’s earlier beaning. Nice choice, Yuuki.

The Swallows should have scored in the fifth as well, but a very bad call at home plate meant that the inning was over prematurely. This inning also featured a sacrifice bunt.  It appears that Takada has reinstituted the bunt-whenever-possible strategy after about a week without it. Anyway, it was entertaining to see Fukuchi get in the ump’s (Tsuchiyama) face after that play at home. Tsuchiyama was pushed back about five paces before Fukuchi’s nose was removed from his forehead.

But Yuuki was on a very short leash tonight. He was yanked after only five and a third innings when things started to get a little weird. After getting leadoff hitter, Sakamoto, to pop up harmlessly to second, he gave up three consecutive hits that allowed Yomiuri to score it’s first run of the evening. He was then replaced by Lee (3.76) who threw four pitches and got Kamei to sit down, and then Lee was replaced by one of Takada’s favorites, Oshimoto (2.82), to try and get the third out.

Oshimoto did end up recording the third out, but not before Tani slapped an rbi single into right field to level the game at 2-2. Yuuki was charged with both runs.

Takada again had Yoshimoto bunt after Tanaka led off with a single in the sixth, and the value of the sacrifice was once again nullified when pinch-hitter, Shida, who had just been called up from the farm and was standing in the box for his first at-bat of the season, crushed an inside pitch over the wall in left. 4-2 Tokyo.

Tokyo added another four runs in the bottom of the seventh. With two outs, Hatakeyama doubled to left to get things going before Iihara reached base on an error at first, and Tanaka sent both of them home with a triple to center. Third baseman, Yoshimoto, then dumped a Toyoda offering just over the wall in right to score two and make it 8-2 Tokyo.

With Igarashi on the mound for the birds in the eighth, a Ramirez single was followed by a Kamei homer to make it 8-4.

But three consecutive two-out walks gave the birds back a run in the bottom of that inning to make it 9-4 home team. Iihara gets the rbi credit for drawing that third one with the bases loaded.

Despite the five run lead, Lim was brought in to handle the ninth, and the result was not pretty. He gave up four hits and two rbi’s before recording the second out of the inning. He eventually got Ramirez to ground out to short to end the game.

TAKADA COUNT: 6

If not for that error in the seventh that allowed Iihara to reach base with two outs (the play that eventually led to us scoring four runs), the Swallows probably would have lost this game. There were four sacrifice bunts in this game, and none of them were laid down by a pitcher. Furthermore, the value of the two that featured during innings in which the team scored runs was negated by subsequent rallies or home runs.

While the team did put the bat on the ball a lot more today, and there were glimpses of the team’s form from early July, this may very well have been another game that we were lucky to win.

Unfortunately, Takada’s revolving door policy with regard to promoting players to, and quickly dropping them from, the top team was validated by the fact that two of his recent additions, Shida and Yoshimoto, came up with clutch home runs.

That means that Takada will continue to bring guys up just for a late inning bunt and then send them back down within the same week (or series!).

Additionally, bringing Igarashi (2.85)  in to pitch with a six run lead is not OK. Apparently Takada disagrees, but I would argue that it doesn’t matter that Matsuoka (5-0, 2.74) had already pitched the sixth inning. Matsuoka, Igarashi, and Lim do not always have to pitch on the same day if the team builds a big lead somewhere along the way. Those four runs in the seventh meant that Igarashi and Lim (0.94) should have taken the night off. Instead they both ended up taking a beating.

Incidentally, Matsuoka ended up getting the win for his 11 pitches in the top of the seventh inning.

On offense, the Fukuchi again had a big night, going 3-5, and Tanaka matched him while adding an rbi.

Hatakeyama and Iihara both had two-hit evenings while Yoshimoto and Shida hit their first home runs of the year.

The Swallows will try to put together two wins in a row when hostilities resume tomorrow night at 6pm.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 1

Chunichi Dragons 2

Streak: Lost 4    Last 5: WLLLL

(Nagoya Dome)

The birds have been outscored 25-3 in their last two games.

The good news is that we didn’t get spanked again this time.

Mercifully, Tokyo was in with a shout for the duration, but in the end the Swallows just couldn’t come up with the fire-power needed to give themselves a shot. This is an annoying new problem for the birds.

To be fair, the Swallows ran into another good starting pitcher. Ogasawara went just an out shy of eight innings and gave up only one earned run off of seven hits. Our hitters weren’t able to hit anything off of Asao and Iwase in the eighth and ninth innings.

Here’s Tokyo’s starting lineup:

1. Fukuchi (LF)
2. Tanaka (2B)
3. Aoki (CF)
4. Hatakeyama (3B)
5. Iihara (RF)
6. Noguchi (1B)
7. Aikawa (C)
8. Kawashima (SS)
9. Yuuki (P)

Yuuki (3-3, 3.64) had another passable outing and made it through six innings (which definitely constitutes progress). He was responsible for both of the runs that the Dragons scored, and the majority of the damage was self-inflicted.

While giving up only three hits, he walked an additional five. He also struck out six, but the five walks are something to worry about. In fact, the Dragons first run of the game came on a bases loaded walk in the second. Their second run was on an Ibata solo home run in the fifth.

If he had managed his control a bit better, then the game might have turned out differently.

Matsuoka (2.80) and Igarashi (2.64) pitched the seventh and eighth innings, respectively, and no runs crossed home plate during those two innings.

On offense, Fukuchi, Hatakeyama, and Kawashima had two hits each. Aoki had only one hit, but it was a solo home run in the eighth which accounted for Tokyo’s only run of the game. It was Aoki’s 10th home run of the season. He hit only 14 last year, so he’s well on track to beat that.

Even though the game was close, the birds have now lost four in a row, and the tailspin continues. Yuuki’s start would have been excellent had it not been for all those walks. It will be interesting to see if he can correct that in the future. The one positive note is that he is continually improving and forging longer outings. Hopefully we’ll see him go seven innings before the second week of September.

Having lost the series to Chunichi, the Swallows will attempt to salvage some pride tomorrow evening when game three takes place at Nagoya Dome.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 1

Yomiuri Giants 2

Streak: Lost 4   Last 5: WLLLL

(Tokyo Dome)

After yesterday’s high-scoring affair, this game started out a bit more slowly.

Tokyo’s starting lineup:

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

Yuuki started strong and got through the first three innings on 46 pitches. He struck out four, walked one, and gave up only one hit to keep the Giants off the board.

Yomiuri starter, Greisinger, also started well and got through the first three innings on only 32 pitches while recording one strikeout, no walks, and getting six Tokyo batters to ground out.

Yuuki started to falter a little bit in the fourth though. Ogasawara led off by drawing a walk before Ramirez struck out and Kamei flew out to center. Then Ogasawara was able to make it to third on a Furuki single to right. He later scored on Tsuruoka’s single, again to right. 1-0 Yomiuri.

And the birds kept stranding runners. Two stranded freebies in the fourth, a  walk followed by a Greisinger fielding error, were the biggest disappointment.

Yuuki got out of the fifth unscathed even though he walked Sakamoto with one out and did the same with Ogasawara with two.

A broken-bat, grounder to short by Ramirez helped keep anyone from scoring, and Hara’s decision to have Matsumoto sac bunt with one out and Sakamoto on first was also of assistance to Yuuki’s cause.

Greisinger pitched his way out of trouble again in the sixth inning after an error by the first baseman allowed Fukuchi on. Fukuchi never took off for second, and Tanaka got in trouble quickly while flashing the bunt. After getting behind in the count he ended up popping up to left with Fukuchi still standing on first. Aoki was able to move Fukuchi over on a hit and run that ended up being a groundout, but that was as far as he got as Greisinger got D’Antona to chase an outside slider for strike and out number three.

Yuuki started the sixth, an inning that he hasn’t made it through yet this year, quite well with a strikeout and groundout. But it seemed like the high pitch count was starting to test his control as he proceeded to walk Greisinger after having intentionally walked Tanaka to get to him. Oops. And that was after Tsuruoka had doubled to get things started with two outs.

With the bases loaded, Sakamoto came to the plate and got Yuuki to dig a hole for himself with a couple of outside pitches in the dirt. But Yuuki kept at it and eventually got Sakamoto to pop up to D’Antona to end the inning and get Yuuki his first six inning start of the season.

Yuuki (3-2, 3.72 ERA) threw 114 pitches and gave up the one earned run off of only four hits. He did, however, walk six batters while also striking out six. He did not factor in the final decision.

Guiel got beaned to start off the Swallows seventh and then Miyamoto bunted him over. Aikawa grounded out to second but Guiel was able to move over to third. Two out. Then Keizo came through with a huge hit up the middle to score Guiel from third. 1-1.

And with two outs, Kawashima (the go-ahead run) on first, and Yuuki’s turn in the lineup to bat, Takada chose to have Nakao pinch hit. Wait, Nakao?

Nakao was brought up from the farm team today to replace Tateyama on the first team roster. And Takada chose that rather crucial point in the game for Nakao to have his first ever pro team at bat. He grounded out to end the inning.

Lee (3.43) came in for the seventh. He got Matsumoto to ground out before Ogasawara singled and caused Lee to be pulled from the game. Matsuoka (4-0, 2.85) was brought in to face Ramirez and got him to fly out to Aoki in center on the first pitch he threw. He then gave up a single to Kamei before getting Furuki to line out to Tanaka at second for out number three.

Quick note: Ogasawara is a crazy-slow runner right now.

Even though the birds got a runner on first with no outs for the fourth straight inning in the top of the eighth, they weren’t able to capitalize again. Tanaka’s bunt attempt was successful this time and Fukuchi moved over to second, but that was as dangerous as the birds looked in that inning.

Matsuoka continued to pitch in the eighth. He gave up a two out single to Ohmichi before he got Sakamoto to strike out looking.

With Yamaguchi pitching for the Giants in the top of the ninth, the Swallows went down in order, and Igarashi (2-2, 2 saves, 2.83) came in to face the meat of the Yomiuri order. He pitched very solidly and got out of the inning on only nine pitches.

And on to extra innings.

With Kawashima reaching first on his third hit of the game, Takada again called for the bunt, and pinch hitter, Noguchi, promptly struck out after fouling off his first two bunt attempts. Needless to say, the birds didn’t score.

Everything came crashing to a very quick end on Oshimoto’s (1-4, 3.18) second pitch of his appearance when Kamei hit a solo homer for the sayonara victory and Tokyo’s fourth loss in a row. 2-1 Yomiuri.

The only player of note on offense for the Swallows was Kawashima who had three hits and the team’s only rbi. There was one other hit by a Swallows hitter in this game, and that was by Aikawa who singled in the fifth.

The last game of this series is tomorrow afternoon, again a 2pm start, when the Swallows offense will attempt to resuscitate itself from its recent slumber.

Chunichi Dragons 2

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 4

Streak: Won 2    Last 5: WLLWW

(Jingu Stadium)

Well, Tokyo pulled off the unpredictable today by taking the series versus Chunichi with its second win in as many days.

Tokyo’s lineup:

1. Aoki (LF)
2. Tanaka (2B)
3. Fukuchi (CF)
4. D’Antona (1B)
5. Iihara (RF)
6. Hatakeyama (3B)
7. Aikawa (C)
8. Kawashima (SS)
9. Yuuki (P)

Yuuki (3-2, 4.04) was actually having a better-than-average start (one earned run off of only three hits; four strikeouts and no walks) until he plunked Tanishige in the head in the fifth inning. Oh well.

The big story of the game, for all intents and purposes, was Jamie D’Antona. He again had three hits and came through with the game-winning home run in the bottom of the eighth.

Tokyo got on the board first when Aoki reached on an error by Morino at third, and then he got moved over by yet another first inning Tanaka bunt. Fukuchi moved Aoki over to third with a single, and then D’Antona came through for the first time with a sac fly to deep right field. 1-0 Tokyo.

Another bunt in the second (this time by Yuuki) put men on second and third, but Yuuki’s out was the second of the inning, so that was the end of that.

Morino would later plate Araki in the top of the fourth to pull the Dragons even at one all.

After Yuuki got ejected with two out in the fifth, Hagiwara (3.60) was called in to mop up, and he did pretty well. He finished out the fifth, and also handled the sixth, without another run scoring.

Things got a bit dicey for Matsuoka (2.70) in the seventh, however. Partly due to an errant Matsuoka throw to first on a bunt by Fujii, the bases ended up getting loaded with only one out recorded. But the Tokyo pitcher got 22-year veteran, Tatsunami, to ground into a 6-4-3 double play. Nice nice!

But things got a bit grim after that–with Igarashi (3.05) on the mound and one out on the board, Araki roped one over the leftfield wall. Oops. 2-1 Chunichi.

But Aoki retaliated by cranking the first pitch he saw over Wada’s head in left to set the plate for the Swallows offense. With Aoki perched on second, Tanaka laid down his second bunt of the game and Aoki moved over to third. This was one of those lucky bunts though where the defense tries and fails at getting the lead runner and then is late on the throw to first. All runners safe, and things suddenly look very, very bad for the Dragons.

Aoki then scored on a Fukuchi ground ball to second to tie the game at 2-2.

And with Tanaka standing on second base, Jamie D’Antona came to the plate.

BANG! Home run number 18 sails over the fence in right, and the masses go crazy. 4-2 birds. Jamie’s batting average (not that it’s really such an important state, but anyway) reached .300 for the first time since the beginning of the season.

And that was how it ended. Lim (0.22) came in to pitch the ninth and seal his 24th save of the season. Igarashi ended up getting the win despite giving up that homer to Araki.

The Tokyo batters were better at taking a pitch in the first two games of this series. I was really frustrated with them during the Hiroshima series when they were hacking away at a lot of the first pitches that Colby Lewis and co. were throwing. To be fair, Lewis throws an awful lot of first pitch strikes (tonight’s starter, Ogasawara, did not), but there’s definitely something to be said for ballooning a hurler’s pitch count as much as possible in the early innings. The Swallows have been more patient in this series.

The series ends tomorrow night at Jingu with game three. The game starts at 6pm.

The Swallows are now just a single game behind second place Chunichi, and 3.5 games behind Central League leaders, Yomiuri.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 3

Hanshin Tigers 2

Streak: Won 2     Last 5:  WWLWW

(Koshien)

Yuuki hung in there just long enough to get his third win of the season, and the Swallows survived the Hanshin counter-attack to take the first game of the series.

Tokyo’s lineup:

1. Aoki (CF)
2. Tanaka (2B)
3. Fukuchi (LF)
4. D’Antona (1B)
5. Guiel (RF)
6. Hatakeyama (3B)
7. Kawashima (SS)
8. Fukukawa (C)
9. Yuuki (P)

Tokyo drew first blood in this game with Kawashima going yard in the top of the second to make it 1-0 Swallows. This solo home run was his eighth of the season which means that he’s doubled last year’s tally in just under half of a season.

Tokyo scored its second run of the game in the top of the fourth care of a Hatakeyama sac fly to left, and added another in the top of the fifth on a Fukuchi sac fly to center. 3-0 birds.

But Hanshin climbed back into it in the bottom of that inning when they started to figure Yuuki out and notched a sac fly rbi of their own to make it 3-1 and see Tokyo’s starter hit the showers.

Yuuki threw 96 pitches in his five innings of work, but he somehow managed to limit the damage to one earned run off of five hits, three K’s, three walks, and one plunking. His RIP of 1.8 over those five frames, while not terrible, still shows that things could definitely have been worse.

And again we saw the Tokyo bullpen get called upon a couple of innings too early. Oshimoto (3.10) came in for the sixth and got a hold point despite giving up two hits and being yanked after recording only two outs. Lee (3.24) came in to finish out the sixth and pitch the seventh as well.

We’re not quite sure why someone else didn’t come in to finish out the sixth as it ended up being Lee’s turn to bat to start the Swallows seventh. Lee, of course, struck out and then proceeded to give up a run in the bottom of the inning to cut Tokyo’s advantage to one run.

Matsuoka (2.78) pitched a one-hit, scoreless eighth, and then Lim (0.23) got through the ninth on nine pitches. Tonight was save number 22 for Lim in 2009.

On offense, Kawashima was definitely the story of the game for the Swallows going 3-4 and raising his average to .249.

Game two of the series is tomorrow night with the first pitch scheduled for 6pm.

Yomiuri lost to Yokohama tonight, but Chunichi got the win over Hiroshima, so the birds are still in third. They’re 1.5 games behind second place Chunichi and four games behind first place Yomiuri in the Central League.

Saitama Seibu Lions 4

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 5

Streak: Won 6       Last 5: WWWWW

(Jingu Stadium)

Tonight was a good-ole’, extra-innings game, and you need to know only two words in order to understand all the fun that it entailed:

Jamie D’Antona.

The man was unstoppable.

He drove in all five of Tokyo’s runs, including the game-winner in the bottom of the 10th, and that was after he tied the game up with a towering blast into the left field stands. Twice.

Tokyo’s Starting Lineup:

D'Antona hits the game-winning single in the bottom of the 10th vs. Saitama.

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

Kataoka scored on a groundout to short in the top of the first to put the visitors ahead 1-0.

D’Antona then led off the bottom of the second with his first home run (10th of the season; Nishiguchi pitching) of the evening to level the score at 1-1.

Nakamura then led his NPB-leading 21st dinger of the season off of Tokyo starter to lead off the fourth inning and make it 2-1 Saitama.

Yuuki was relieved after five innings of three hit, two run ball. He ended up with a no-decision after tallying six K’s, 1 BB, and 1 HBP. His ERA now sits at 3.86 after throwing 88 pitches.

Kida (5.20) pitched the sixth and seventh innings without giving up any more runs, but Hagiwara saw his ERA swell from 2.70 to 3.57 in the eighth. Kuriyama singled and then Nakajima drew a walk to make things very interesting. Nakamura and Ishii were retired before G. G. Satou and Kinji hit successive rbi singles to right to make it a very daunting 4-1 Saitama scoreline.

But things weren’t nearly as bad as they seemed. Takeuchi singled to get things started in the bottom of the same inning before Morioka and Tanaka were retired to make it two outs and Takeuchi on third base. Saitama’s coach, Watanabe, opted to bring in Mitsui so that he could walk Aoki on five pitches.

After that he decided to put Onodera in to face D’Antona with two out and men on first and third.

Bang!

Game tied: 4-4.

No further runs scored in the ninth or the top of the tenth. Lim got a hold point for his work in the ninth, and Igarashi ended up benefitting (by way of a win) from the heroics that would ensue after he sat down on the bench.

Takeuchi again set the table with a single to center, and he was promptly replaced by Iihara on first base. The Saitama infield rushed to pounce on pinch-hitter Kawabata’s bunt, but Iihara’s wheels saw him slide safely into second ahead of the throw. With both runners safe and no outs, Tanaka laid down the second bunt of the inning to move both runners over to second and third.

Watanabe again pitched around Aoki, this time intentionally walking him and loading the bases, to get to D’Antona. And the big man delivered yet again with a grounder between third and short to score the game-winning walk-off run. 5-4 Tokyo.

D’Antona went 3-4 and added a walk to help raise his vitals to .249/.299/.481. He was the undisputed hero of the game, and gave a very humble post-game speech to the 20,000 or so fans that stuck around for the extra inning.

He now leads the team in home runs and has put together several solid performances in a row.

Also impressing on offense:

Aoki (.282/.394/.445) went two for three but actually reached base four times thanks to a couple of walks late in the game.

Takeuchi (.303/.373/.394) also had two hits in his three at-bats. He didn’t start; he pinchi hit for Yuuki in the bottom of the fifth.

Other notes:

Aoki struck out looking to end the first inning and it was a horse-poop call.

Guiel made a very nice catch at the fence in right in the top of the first. He can definitely jump when he has to.

The final game of the interleague segment of the season is tomorrow at 2pm at Jingu.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 3

Orix Buffaloes 1

Streak: Won 2   Last 5: LWLWW

(Kyocera Dome)

After finally getting a win against one of NPB’s surprise stories of the year, the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks, Tokyo made it halfway home before having to stop off in Osaka to finish up their four-game, mid-season flirtation with the Pacific league’s sixth-place team, Orix.

Tokyo is 2-0 this season against the Buffs, a team that has given up an NPB-worst 298 runs so far in 2009 (the birds have surrendered 172). Going into this game, Orix was the only Pacific league team on Tokyo’s schedule that they still have a chance to sweep.

Tokyo’s lineup:

1. Fukuchi (DH)
2. Kawabata (2B)
3. Aoki (CF)
4. Guiel (RF)
5. Iihara (LF)
6. Miyamoto (3B)
7. Yuuichi (1B)
8. Aikawa (C)
9. Kawashima (SS)

Yuuki (1-1) started this game for the birds with Vogelsong (0-2) getting the ball for the Buffs.

And it was basically over and done with after two innings.

Orix drew first blood in the bottom of the first with former Tokyo infielder, Greg Larocca, making his one hit of the night count. Oobiki scored to make it 1-0 Buffaloes.

But Tokyo would put the game away in the top of the second. Guiel drew a walk before Miyamoto’s one out double leveled things at 1-1.

Aikawa eventually blasted a two out homer to left to make it 3-1 Tokyo.

And no other runs scored after that.

Yuuki (2-1) notched his second win of the season on five innings of solid pitching in which he gave up only the one run off of five hits. The win helped him drag his ERA down to 3.93 while tallying three K’ and 2 BBs.

Kida (5.24), Matsuoka (1.69), and Igarashi (1.48) pitched an inning each of hold point-worthy relief, and Lim (0.00) notched his 17th save of the season.

Vogelsong (0-3; 6.84) took the loss for Orix.

On offense for Tokyo, both Guiel and Aikawa had two-hits each.

Aoki didn’t get a hit, but he got hit. Again.

Aikawa’s homer was his first of the season.

Lim finished the ninth inning on only seven pitches. Kida cleared the sixth with six.

All the other Central league teams lost. Yay!

The birds will attempt to complete the sweep tomorrow.