The Kansai Derby always seems to be interesting. This year, it was the Orix Buffaloes turn to “hit the road” and come over to Koshien. The series was delayed thanks to a rainout on Wednesday (June 6), and the rubber match wasn’t played until two weeks after it was originally scheduled. The way it was played, you’d think the summer high school tournament at Koshien had started early.
Game 51: Can’t Tie Game With Bunts; Manager Peeved
Starting Pitchers: Randy Messenger vs. Andrew Albers
H-TEN was in attendance at this one, taking it in from the “Excite Seats” (basically, the front row of the First Base Alps). The view was not amazing (fence in the way) but it was really easy to see the trajectory of the balls in play. But when your team is more focused on bunting than hitting, you don’t get a great view of the “action.”
So the Buffs took an early lead on a couple of hits in the first, but the Tigers got it back and took the lead in the bottom of the fourth, courtesy of back-to-back RBIs by Kosuke Fukudome (double) and Yoshio Itoi (single).
Unfortunately, this was not Randy’s day. In the top of the fifth, he gave up back-to-back solo shots (one to right, one to left), and his start came to an abrupt end at inning’s end. He went: 5 IP, 104 TP, 7 H, 2 BB, 3 R, 7 K.
It was the bottom of the fifth that frustrated fans (and annoyed manager Tomoaki Kanemoto, despite it being his foolish “strategy” that prompted the ire). After Yusuke Ohyama led off with a double, Kanemoto went into furious bunt mode. One moved the runner over to third. The next (by a pinch hitter bunter) was intended to be a squeeze play. Didn’t work, but the throw to first was off by a bit, putting runners on the corners with just one out. Surely Kanemoto wouldn’t call for another… he did. Fouled off, and by then, all the Tigers’ strength had been sapped. No win, let alone tie game.
Final Score: 
2, 
3
LP: Messenger (7-3)
Game 52: Still “Perfect” Post-Rainouts
Starting Pitchers: Takumi Akiyama vs. Chihiro Kaneko
Since rainy season is actually rainy this year, we got another rainout. Thursday’s game was the second of the series, not the third, but more importantly, it meant the Tigers’ perfect record on days after rainouts was on the line. They didn’t disappoint.
Fukudome got the home team on the board with a sac fly in the bottom of the third after a couple of hits sandwiched a walk and a sac bunt. The Buffs got it back in the top of the sixth on a Masataka Yoshida triple. But that tie wouldn’t last long. Itoi led off the bottom of the frame with a single, and Takashi Toritani brought him home on a clutch double.
From there, Akiyama buckled down (7 IP, 95 TP, 7 H, 0 BB, 1 R, 4 K), and got some help from Kentaro Kuwahara and Rafael Dolis to preserve the win.
Final Score: 2, 1
WP: Akiyama (5-5); SV: Dolis (16)
Game 62: Clowns on the Left, Jokers on the Right…
Starting Pitchers: Kosuke Baba vs. Sachiya Yamasaki
It simply took way too long for our offense to get going. Fortunately, Baba held down the fort while the bats snoozed through the first five innings. The rookie allowed just a solo home run in his six innings of work, and left for pinch hitter Noriharu Yamazaki. Z > S as he got the Tigers’ first hit of the game off Yamasaki. Ultimately, thanks to an Orix error, the Tigers took the lead on an Itoi single to right.
Unfortunately, the bullpen blew it (and Itoi didn’t help in the field, either), giving up two runs in the top of the eighth. Just when it looked like the game was over (Masui in for the close after pitching perfect baseball during the interleague schedule…
再び糸井！土壇場で同点ホームラン！！！ #hanshin #虎テレ pic.twitter.com/3D0mkaus0X
— 虎テレ運用担当 (@toratele) June 21, 2018
And that was all she wrote. Hanshin had the better extra innings chances, but more foolish strategy and some poor base running by Yamazaki (not to mention his game-ending strikeout) did the team no favors.