Sometimes you have to watch games to get a true feel for what they were like. The scoreboard and stat line aren’t enough. This one was a bit of a stressful affair, as Masashi Itoh allowed the leadoff runner to reach base in five of his seven innings. In the eighth, they got two 2-out singles and the game looked like it might be in jeopardy. Meanwhile, our hitters looked nothing like they did in the regular season. One inning ended in five pitches, others were not much longer. It felt like our team was out there on the field at least ⅔ of the time, if not more. And yet we went into the ninth inning knotted up at one apiece. Suguru Iwazaki did his job well, as he did yesterday, fanning two and not allowing anyone to reach base. Then the bats created a chance in the bottom of the frame. You can read the details below. All this to say, we pulled off a win in a game that could have been lost were it not for our outstanding pitching. One more win and we’re in the Japan Series for the first time since 2014. Let’s GOOOOOO!
