Series Recap: May 26-28, 2015

 This season has been one of streaks for the Tigers. Earlier, they went a whole month without stopping any losing streak at 1 or being stopped after just 1 win. Since that time, they have done the opposite, losing to DeNA, winning the middle match and losing the finale. Heading into the Interleague portion of the schedule, could they bounce back and start a new winning streak? Their opponents would be the equally mediocre Rakuten Eagles.

Game 1: The Tigers, though, continued another streak they had going, accomplishing something they had struggled with until just recently. In each of the three games against the Baystars, they put up at least one run in the first inning. They did the same thing when Takashi Toritani led off with a walk, was bunted over to second by (who else?) Yamato, and hit home by Kosuke Fukudome. (Side note: I must be a bringer of good luck to the former Cub/Indian, because in the four games I’ve attended that he played in, he has gone 6/11 with 2 HR and 6 RBI. The team is 3-1 in those games.)

Minoru Iwata was coming off his worst start of the year, as he got eaten alive by the Yomiuri Giants at home last week. In this one, despite poor control of his pitches (4 BB) he was able to keep the Eagles guessing all night (10 K). He didn’t give up a hit until the 5th inning, and only allowed two more the rest of the way. It was his first complete game shutout in 4 years.

The highlight for me, though, was Mauro Gomez‘s 2-run blast in the home half of the fifth (video here). Having already been walked twice, I’m sure he was anxious to just make connection with something… and he did. It was a full-count fork ball, low and outside but still within the strike zone. He crushed it, and although the ball never went much higher than 25 feet in the air, it carried quite easily over the wall in left-center.

As always, the atmosphere at Koshien Stadium was electric, despite a leaner attendance than the Tigers tend to get for their Central League opponents. Singing “Rokko Oroshi” with 30,000+ other fanatics is a great way to cap off the night, and of course everyone leaves a little happier when the men in pinstripes come out on top. Final Score: Tigers 3, Eagles 0.

Game 2: Let’s keep this one short, as the game did not feature a lot of action. There really were not even many scoring chances, as Manabu Mima held off the Tigers for 8 innings, while Shintaro Fujinami completed 10 innings of shutout ball (with 13 strikeouts) before being replaced in the bottom of the 10th by a pinch hitter. Seung-hwan Oh pitched a shutout 11th inning, and a Gomez single was followed up with a walk-off home run by Fukudome. Great pitching by the Tigers’ starters so far in this series, and just enough clutch hitting for the Tigers to open interleague play with two wins! Final Score: Tigers 2, Eagles 0.

Game 3: Tonight’s game would appear to be the last one for awhile for Mario Santiago, as the Tigers plan to send him down and call up Randy Messenger to start tomorrow’s game. Things got off to a rough start once again for the Puerto Rican, as he gave up 2 runs on 4 hits in the first, then served up a solo shot in the 5th. The Tigers were down 3-0 at that point, and had yet to register a hit when Santiago left the game. Then at last, the bats came to life. Toritani and Fumiya Araki singled, Matt Murton brought Toritani home on a sacrifice fly, and then Fukudome’s double helped Araki score from first. The Tigers went from looking hopeless and helpless to being down just a run. Another great chance presented itself in the seventh, but the team could not capitalize. Then in the eighth, Fukudome hit his second double of the night, and tied the game on a Hayata Itoh single to right. These scrappy Tigers are a fun team to watch, though they certainly do not win the easy way very often! The Tigers relievers (Ryoma Matsuda, Kazuya Takamiya, Oh and Shinobu Fukuhara) kept the Eagles at bay through the eleventh (though not without drama in extras), and the Tigers missed a golden chance in the ninth. In the bottom of the 11th, with the game pushing 4 3/4 hours, the unthinkable happened. With two outs, Araki singled (his sixth time on base on the night), and three straight walks brought home the winning run. The official game-winning RBI went to none other than Fukudome, who had an outstanding series. Final Score: Tigers 4, Eagles 3.

Series Notes: Murton picked up a modasho on Tuesday, getting three singles including an infield shot to third. He seems to have lost a step from seasons past, but still managed to leg one out… Tsuyoshi Nishioka‘s elbow injury (ligament damage) is much more serious than originally diagnosed. Some reports question whether or not he will return this season… Ryota Arai, on the other hand, hopes to return after the minimum 10 days on the disabled list. The swelling in his bruised knee is already subsiding, the team reports… Fujinami’s personal shutout streak is now at 26 innings. He’s got 4 complete games on the year, all coming in May, and his ERA for the month was 0.88 (and is 2.10 on the season). Someone’s starting to look like an ace again… Toritani is now riding a 7-game hitting streak. His average has climbed over .250 for the first time in weeks… Young 2012 first-round pick Fumiya Hojoh made the first plate appearance of his career in the fifth as a pinch hitter for Santiago. He popped up in foul territory to first base… Catcher Shinji Komiyama also had his first at-bat of the year in the eighth, and struck out with men on first and second and two outs… Infielder Yuto Morikoshi also stepped up to the dish for the first time in 2015. He popped up to short in the 10th.

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