If you want to see all the scores from the first month of the 2019 season, they are all here. This is a look at some of the highs and lows from April, not necessarily just the scores and streaks.
Needless to say, the two series against the Yomiuri Giants killed any momentum that we had going. The three-game set at Tokyo Dome played out like a schoolyard bullying session, as our pitchers (Onelki Garcia, Koyo Aoyagi and Masumi Hamachi) all got mauled. It didn’t help that our hitters continued to be mired in a season-long slump. The first man to lose his starting job for a spell was Seiya Kinami, who went his first 17 at-bats without a hit
In fact, it took until Game 9 for the boys to put up double-digit hits and more than three runs in a single game. They certainly weren’t endearing themselves to the fans, despite the 3 wins they put up in those first 8 games.
Still, that series win in Hiroshima capped by a complete-game shutout by free agent acquisition Yuki Nishi was something to give fans new hope: (1) The Tigers can win games in Hiroshima! (2) They actually can hit! (3) Nishi is going to be worth every yen the team paid for his services.
Then came the miracle Koshien season debut… good luck finding a flukier and more exciting game than that all year – not to mention that Ryutaro Umeno hit for the cycle with a broken toe!
And then the team lost 4 straight at Koshien, reminding us all of last season’s abominable record on home turf. But Nishi to the rescue in the final game of the homestand.
A split series (1-1-1) against the Swallows on the road, which concluded with a 5-homer fireworks party for our boys, was followed by another spirit-crushing sweep at the hands of the Giants, this time in our backyard. A blowout in which Randy Messenger got knocked out after four innings of smackdown and a batted ball off the hand. Then two straight shutouts to pitchers not named Sugano. Ouch. It’s gonna be a long season, people.
But then…
… we took all our anger out on the poor BayStars, who were smack dab in the middle of a 10-game losing streak. Hanshin fans saw more wins in Yokohama that series (3-0) than they had seen all season thus far at Koshien (2-7).
Then two of three in a ballpark that has never been kind to us, Nagoya Dome. Nice road trip against two fairly weak opponents, but the once-again-confident Hiroshima Carp awaited to close out the Heisei Era, and the game was to be played in the one park Hanshin struggles to get wins:
Koshien.
But Takumi Akiyama remembered how he felt in 2017, and shut the door on them through seven innings. The lead by then was big enough that the last home run of the Heisei Era in Japanese professional baseball (by Xavier Batista) didn’t strike any fear in Hanshin fans.
And so we end the month – and the era – quite strongly. Still below .500 (at that point, anyways) but getting steadily stronger.
And here’s a little tease of how May started: the team’s first home run of the Reiwa Era, smashed out of the park by Jefry Marte: