First Stage Game 1 vs. Giants: Repeat of Game 143…

And so it begins. October was a good month for the Tigers, despite not taking home the pennant. On the other hand, the Giants had a historically bad month, finishing below .500 but secured the third spot. In the playoffs, none of that matters, other than the Tigers being able to host the entire best-of-three series. On this day, we brought our ace, Haruto Takahashi (1-0, 16 shutout innings vs. Giants this season) to the mound. They also brought their best pitcher (at least historically speaking), Tomoyuki Sugano.

Hanshin’s starting lineup:

1. #53 Kairi Shimada RF
2. #51 Takumu Nakano SS
3. #5 Koji Chikamoto CF
4. #31 Jefry Marte 1B
5. #33 Kento Itohara 3B
6. #0 Seiya Kinami 2B
7. #24 Mel Rojas Jr. LF
8. #12 Seishiro Sakamoto C
9. #29 Haruto Takahashi P

First Inning

Matsubara grounded out to third base, Hirooka struck out looking, and Sakamoto struck out swinging.

Shimada and Nakano struck out swinging, Chikamoto grounded out to second.

Second Inning

Maru flew out to left, Wheeler and Nakajima grounded out to short.

Marte grounded out to short, Itohara grounded out to second, Kinami grounded out to first.

Third Inning

Yoshikawa grounded out to pitcher. Kobayashi struck out swinging. Sugano grounded out to short.

Rojas flied out to third. Sakamoto struck out looking. Takahashi grounded out to second.

Fourth Inning

Matsubara grounded out to second, then Hirooka got the first hit of the game, a seeing-eye single to left. However, Sakamoto grounded into an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play. No harm, no foul.

Shimada struck out swinging, Nakano flied out to shallow center (first ball to even leave the infield!), Chikamoto also flied out to center.

Fifth Inning

Maru legged out an infield single to second (slid head-first). Wheeler advanced the runner with a sacrifice bunt. Nakajima singled to shallow right. Yoshikawa RBI single to center. Kobayashi struck out swinging. Sugano grounded out to pitcher.

Marte singled to left but Sugano read the hit-and-run call well, and a pitch-out saw Marte out at second by a mile. Itohara walked on four pitches. Kinami battled but lined out to center. Rojas flied out to left.

Sixth Inning

Matsubara grounded out to second. Hirooka flied out to right. Sakamoto singled to left. Maru walked. Wheeler hit a two-run double off the center-field wall. Nakajima struck out looking.

Sakamoto took the seventh pitch of his at-bat off the hand. Yoshi Itoi pinch-hit for Takahashi and flied out to left. Shimada lined out to short. Nakano doubled off the right-field wall. Chikamoto flied out to short.

Seventh Inning

Kosuke Baba entered the game in relief. Yoshikawa grounded out to third. Kobayashi and Sugano struck out looking.

Marte flied out to short. Itohara flied out to left. Kinami flied out to short.

Eighth Inning

Masaki Oyokawa replaced Baba on the mound. Matsubara doubled to left. Hirooka bunted him over to third. Sakamoto flied out to shallow right, runner cannot score. Maru walked. Wheeler singled to left, plating a run. Keisuke Kobayashi replaces Oyokawa. A wild pitch advanced the runners but Nakajima grounded out to third.

De la Rosa replaced Sugano. Rojas flied out to right. Sakamoto singled to center. Teruaki Sato pinch hit for Kobayashi and struck out swinging. Shimada singled to shallow right. Nakano grounded out to second.

Yukiya Saitoh took the mound. Yoshikawa singled to center. Kobayashi pop-bunted into Saitoh’s glove; 1-3 double play. Pinch-hitter Ohshiro grounded out to first.

Vieira came in to try to close the game. Chikamoto walked on eight pitches. Marte struck out on an unchecked swing (nearly had a double down the line but was called foul). Itohara grounded out to short. Pinch-hitter Yusuke Ohyama singled to left on the first pitch he saw and advanced to second on a pass ball. Rojas walked on four straight pitches, loading the bases. Vieira left the mound, Hatake stepped up. Fumihito Haraguchi (pinch-hitter) lined out to third. Game over.

Final Score: Hanshin 0, Yomiuri 4

LP: Takahashi (6 IP 3 R)