You expect to win two, if not three when you’re playing against a bottom-feeding team like the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles. The Tigers barely pulled it off – but hey, we’ll take the wins any way we get them.
Game 58 – Kids Back in Kanemoto’s Good Books?
Starting Pitchers: Shintaro Fujinami vs. Wataru Karashima
It took until the sixth inning for the scoreless tie to be broken. That’s good news for Shintaro, but not-so-good news for the hitters. In fact, Fujinami only put himself in a jam once: he helped load the bases with just one out, thanks to two walks. He also got himself out of the jam by inducing a soft grounder to third for a 5-2-3 inning-ending double play.
The Hanshin hitters took care of the rest. Masahiro Nakatani continued to show Kanemoto that he deserves to be in the lineup every day with a two-run jack:
The very next inning, Kento Itohara doubled home Kai Ueda to extend the lead, and two innings later, Shunsuke put the final nail in the coffin with an RBI single to right. It was a long time coming, but Shintaro got his first W in 400+ days.
Final Score: 
4 
0
WP: Fujinami (1-2)
Game 59 – Squeezing Out a Win Despite All the Bunting
Starting Pitchers: Yuta Iwasada vs. Takahiro Norimoto
Both pitchers were ON. Well, Norimoto was helped out quite a bit. If you are a proponent of #buntsarefreeouts then Hanshin essentially gave the Eagles pitcher six of his 25 outs via the bunt. The first five ended without the crowd singing Rokko Oroshi. We’ll get to the sixth later.
Iwasada had another killer outing. He got himself into a jam in the fourth, juicing the bases, but also struck out two straight guys to end the threat. The next time he got himself into danger, in the bottom of the 8th, he gave the mound up to Kentaro Kuwahara. With runners on the corners and one out, Kuwahara gave up an RBI double. The Tigers were down to their final three outs, and needed a run or two in the ninth.
So when Hayata Itoh walked on four straight pitches to lead off the inning, and Norimoto tiring fast, Kanemoto mustered up all his strategic strength, and subbed in a pinch runner, speedster Takahiro Kumagai. And then bunted him over to second. The next batter, Nakatani (who earlier in the game was called on to bunt despite having hit a homer the previous day), hit a gapper to right center, scoring the tying run. A pinch hit later, Shun Takayama hit the first pitch he saw through the left side of the infield, and the Tigers had the lead!
Kyuji Fujikawa took the ninth, as Dolis has been deactivated due to a persistent high fever. He retired the first two, then gave up a hit, walked a guy, and things were getting scary again. Fortunately, he induced a foul fly to catcher to end the game. Lucky win!
Final Score: 2 1
WP: Kuwahara (1-1). SV: Fujikawa (1)
Game 60 – Nashida Steps Down, Eagles Stomp on Saiki
Starting Pitchers: Hiroto Saiki vs. Manabu Mima
Nothing to see (or read) here, people. Move along.