For the fifth straight week, the Tigers have posted three losses. This time, though, because they only played four games, they finished the week 1-3 and are now sitting at .500 on the year. Interleague play was not kind to the Tigers, who finished tied for last in the interleague standings with a 9-15 record. Fortunately, one of the other low finishers was the Hiroshima Carp. Unfortunately, the team with the top record in interleague play was the Yomiuri Giants, who finished 16-8.
Tuesday’s game against the Fighters featured a blown save by Oh, who has not been his usual reliable self in the past month or so. The blown 3-1 lead looked like it would result in either a loss or draw, but Murton’s 12th-inning double gave the Tigers their lone win this week. On Wednesday night, the Tigers faced a dominant pitcher in Shohei Otani. He allowed just a harmless single through 8 innings, struck out 11, and the Tigers finished with a mere three singles on the night. One resulted in a failed steal attempt, while another was followed by a double play.
So after nine straight scoreless innings on Wednesday, it was painful to see the Tigers repeat the feat the following game. The Rakuten Eagles’ starter, Norimoto, pitched a complete game shut-out as the Tigers lost 4-0 for the second straight night. Messenger struggled at times but was not helped by the defence behind him. There were a few Eagles hits that could have easily been called errors. The series (and interleague) finale was not much better, as the Tigers mustered a mere run. After Gomez’ RBI single, Murton singled and loaded the bases with one out. Unfortunately, Imanari grounded into a double play, ending the threat and the first momentum the Tigers had built up in three games. It was a disappointing week to say the least.
The Giants retained their hold on first place, despite a better week out of the Carp. As mentioned earlier, the Tigers are sitting at .500, and are now only a game ahead of the Chunichi Dragons. Here are the standings as of the end of play on June 22nd:
Here are this week’s stat lines for our foreigners:
| Player | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | K | SB | CS | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS |
| Gomez | 4 | 14 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | .357 | .400 | .429 | .829 |
| Murton | 4 | 15 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .400 | .471 | .533 | 1.004 |
| Player | GP | GS | W | L | SV | BS | HLD | CG | SHO | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | K | ERA | WHIP |
| Messenger | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.1 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 3.68 | 1.23 |
| Oh | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 18.00 | 3.00 |
The Tigers couldn’t be more relieved that the interleague portion of the schedule is over. It has been a miserable month of June to this point, and the upcoming four-day break couldn’t come at a better time. This week features a three-game homestand on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. They will host Chunichi, and need to re-extend their lead in the standings against the charging Dragons. Let’s hope the coming week puts an end to their losing ways. A 3-0 week would do wonders for their confidence and their place in the standings. GO TIGERS!
Finally out of interleague play!!!
Exactly! They need to sweep the Dragons to get their confidence back. It’s been a hard month to watch games! Blown leads, bats gone silent, rallies ending before they produced runs, etc. Can’t wait to see the Tigers go on a roll!!!