Winning pitcher Randy Messenger said it all: “Any time I pitch a 1-0 game, it seems like he (Fukudome) is the one hitting the home run.” The big righty more than did his part too, shutting out the Carp hitters for eight innings, allowing just five base runners and retiring 21 of the last 23 batters he faced. Having thrown “just” 105 pitches (quite low for him, as he has gone as high as 147 this season), the fans were left wondering who would try to close out the game in the ninth. In the end, Wada decided against trying to get a complete game out of his starter, and brought in closer Seung-hwan Oh. The first-year Korean struck out the side on 12 pitches and the crowd went nuts. Game 1 of the best-of-3 goes to the Tigers.
For his part, Fukudome drew a walk and collected a pair of hits, including a sixth inning solo home run off Carp starter Kenta Maeda. “From the moment I hit it, I thought it might find its way out of the park,” he said nonchalantly in the post-game hero interview. It left the park in the deepest part of the field, clearing the center field wall with room to spare. It was the game’s lone run, and although most 1-run leads are nerve-racking, this one seemed comfortable, given the way the big man was pitching. “He’s definitely a dependable pitcher,” quipped Fukudome, paying respect to the man standing to his left on the hero’s podium.
Though the Tigers managed just one run, they had plenty of chances before and after Fukudome’s blast. They put at least a runner on base in each of the first seven innings, and had men in scoring position three times. Maeda pitched just well enough to keep the score down, though he did miss on his 100th pitch – a 3-1 low outside fastball that stayed in the strike zone.
Game 2 is scheduled for Sunday at 2pm, but should the forecasted rain/typhoon cause a delay, they will play Monday at 2pm, and if necessary, Tuesday evening. The rules for the First Stage of the Climax Series stipulate that the series must conclude by then. The Final Stage is set to start in Tokyo on Wednesday, with the winner facing the Giants. Should there only be time for two games to be played, well, the series is already over. By virtue of having finished the regular season in second place, the Tigers automatically win the tiebreaker if the third game cannot be played on time. This win was all the more crucial with Typhoon 19 bearing down on mainland Japan, threatening to cancel one or two games.
Up next: Atsushi Nohmi for the Tigers, and probably Daichi Ohsera for the Carp. GO TIGERS!
Congrats on the win – huge to start the series!
Thanks! It felt good to win the first one. Looks like the second will be played today, but there’s no guarantees that Monday or Tuesday will happen…
I was just reminiscing on the Climax Series games again, as I wasn’t able to see the 1st stage games because I was in the middle of my trip in Japan during this time, and not all my hotels had TVs.
So I was totally ecstatic when they advanced to the final stage, because I bought tickets for the 1st game in Tokyo Dome 2 weeks before! (It was my first time to watch it live) That first inning was superb, and the game was decided before we even warmed up with the cheering. Haha! :D But I wish it was in Koshien though. Looking at your photos, I’m betting the atmosphere is even more intense at Koshien!
AWESOME blog by the way! I hope you won’t get tired of updating it.
Keep it up. :)
Thanks a bunch! I want to keep it up, but looking back on this year, it took a lot of time to maintain! This was my first time following any pro team this closely and making it into a website/blog was also a first, obviously. But I definitely want to do this again next year! Thanks for checking in and keep stopping by every now and then! I’ll update about once a week during the offseason.