If you like strikeouts, then this was a great game for you to watch. Both pitchers brought their A games, but there was just no beating our ace today.
Starting PItchers: Randy Messenger (1-0, 1.29 ERA) vs. Katsuki Azuma (0-0)
4
Our lads gave Azuma a great start to his pro career, letting him strike out the side (though he allowed one hit) in the first inning. And he kept rolling until there was one out in the 4th. Wilin Rosario hit a single up the middle, and Kosuke Fukudome smoked one off the right field wall to put two men in scoring position. Yusuke Ohyama took the first pitch he saw and put it deep enough to score Rosario on the sacrifice fly.
Hanshin 1, Yokohama 0
8
This inning played out like a Yutaka Wada-led first inning circa 2015 (though two of these guys weren’t Tigers yet at the time). Leadoff man Shun Takayama singled. He got bunted over. and Yoshio Itoi brought him home with a hit (double) of his own. Anyways, the team wanted some insurance, and they got just the one extra run.
Hanshin 2, Yokohama 0
8 & 9
Messenger kept cruising along, much like Ono the day before, but he didn’t stop part-way through the 8th. He mowed them down in order and looked strong enough to finish this one off himself. No one reached second base, and he had recorded his 24th career game with double digits in strikeouts (tying him with Kei Igawa). In fact, his line looked like this: 8 IP, 96 TP, 3 H, 0 BB, 0 R, 11 K. But the ball was given to Rafael Dolis in the ninth, and he didn’t disappoint. For the second straight night, Tsutsugo was caught looking at strike three on the inside part of the plate. Game set match.