Honestly, there’s not much good to report from the first two games. And there were plenty of moments in Game 3 that made it seem like this would be the final recap of the season. Fortunately, an unlikely hitter woke up from his slumber and extended the season by a couple more days.
Game 1 – Wednesday, October 9 – Early KO; Lots of LOB
Starters: Atsushi Mochizuki vs. Shun Yamaguchi
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Hanshin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 0 |
 Yomiuri | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | x | 5 | 6 | 0 |
Mochizuki served up solo homers to Maru and Okamoto in the first inning. His follow-up act in the second included multiple walks and hits, leading to three more runs for the bad guys. That was the end of his mound.
The Tigers got one back in the fourth on a wild pitch, then remained silent until the ninth, when Fumiya Hojoh watched four bad pitches go by with the bases loaded, bringing home a second run. That was all.
Final Score: Hanshin 2, Yomiuri 5
Game 2 – Thursday, October 10 – Mid-Game KO; Not Many Baserunners
Starters: Haruto Takahashi vs. C.C. Mercedes
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hanshin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| Yomiuri | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | x | 6 | 11 | 1 |
The first two Giants reached base on hits, then one of them scored on a double play. A few innings later, Guerrero smacked one deep to left off his countryman Onelki Garcia, and the very next inning, Maru and Okamoto stretched that lead even further with a sac fly and single. In the bottom of the eighth, they added another.
Meanwhile, we had three singles on the night (all in different innings) and one hit batsman (Kosuke Fukudome, who took one for the team for the third time this postseason). Needless to say, no runs.
Final Score: Hanshin 0, Yomiuri 6
Game 3 – Friday, October 11 – Eight O’Clock Man Wakes Up in the Ninth
Starters: Koyo Aoyagi vs. Shosei Togo
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hanshin | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 12 | 0 |
| Yomiuri | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 9 | 1 |
Finally we got a lead! Ryutaro Umeno smacked a leadoff home run in the top of the third. YES!
NO! The lead disappeared and then some in the bottom of the inning. Three runs later, and we’re back in a hole. And then a bigger hole when they hit a home run of their own in the next inning. Looking pretty grim… until…
Shun Takayama willed one over the second baseman with the bases juiced to bring home a run, then Umeno smacked one to shallow left for another run. With two outs, Koji Chikamoto laced one into the right-field corner for a bases-clearing triple. We’re gonna WIN!
NO! Seven pitches into the bottom of the next inning, Okamoto hits a two-run home off Rafael Dolis. Game tied.
After some close calls for both teams, the whole Tiger nation was hoping, pleading that someone, anyone would give the Tigers a lead to avoid facing a walk-off series-clincher in the bottom of the ninth.
Enter Yusuke Ohyama. With just two hits (the last of which was a dribbler to third) in the postseason to this point, and a .102 (5-for-49) season average at Tokyo Dome this year, plus his tendency to disappear after the clock strikes 8, he was hardly a prime candidate to make the difference. But he did!
And Kyuji Fujikawa successfully pitched a second inning of shutout ball, coaxing a fly ball out of Sakamoto, striking out Maru, and getting Okamoto on a grounder to short. TIGERS WIN!
Final Score: Hanshin 7, Yomiuri 6
Game 4, scheduled for tomorrow, will be postponed until Sunday at 3:30 pm due to a super-typhoon expected to hit the Tokyo area hard. That game time could change depending on how fast the storm clears out, as well as how quickly public transportation is back up and running. Hoping for another miracle on Sunday! (Just don’t make it so hard on our ulcers, Hanshin!)