Neither of these teams looked like the ones that combined for 27 hits and 13 runs on Tuesday. Perhaps that is a good thing, though, as it was getting a little old seeing our team falling deep into holes early in games. This time around, Masashi Itoh pitched masterfully, with the lone run he surrendered…
Nothing went well for the Tigers on this night, outside of the bottom of the fifth inning. The pitchers gave up a season-worst 17 hits to the worst-hitting team in the Central in one of the most pitcher-friendly parks in the Central. Many of the defenders, though not charged with errors, did not make plays…
There really is no such thing as a good time of year to slump, but the Hanshin Tigers really have looked lame since the All-Star break. Despite getting to play 15 games against the bottom half of the Central League, they have come up with just a 7-8 record, and have looked quite a bit…
Rookie Shoki Murakami put up some solid numbers on the farm for a good three-month stretch since his top-squad debut at the end of May. Unfortunately, it did not translate into an improvement on his numbers on this night. He allowed runs to score in all three of his innings of work, so despite recording…
Yuki Nishi continued to look for elusive career win #100, and while he started out reasonably well, and technically did produce a quality start (6 IP 3 R), the bullpen doubled the runs against in two innings of work, and captain Yusuke Ohyama failed to capitalize on three big chances with runners in scoring position:…
After yesterday’s embarrassing loss, the Tigers came out roaring on both ends. Joe Gunkel mowed down the first three batters he faced really quickly, and Koji Chikamoto smacked the first pitch in the bottom half of the inning over the wall. From there, the batters kept the foot on the pedal most of the night,…
Masashi Itoh (5 in 3) and Yukiya Saitoh (3 in 1) and Yuta Iwasada (2 in 2) combined to allow 10 runs in 6 innings of work. The batters did next-to-nothing. We almost had more stolen bases in this game (3) than we did hits (4). Oh. Our pitchers also made Shugo Maki the first…
Koyo Aoyagi had never reached double digits in wins, despite coming close and setting the bar for himself at 13 wins these past 2-3 seasons. This year, though, shall be different. He went 7 strong innings despite not having his best control, and got plenty of support from the big bats, as Koji Chikamoto and…
Despite the Tigers being 1.5 games ahead of the Giants all weekend, any combination of a Tigers loss and Giants win would have put the orangemen in a rare situation: 0.5 games behind the Tigers but in first place. That’s right. All those ties mean their winning percentage would have been higher than ours. Fortunately,…
Not sure what to tell you. I did not watch this one and honestly, I do not feel like I missed much. More costly errors, another poor start from our starting pitcher, the top of the order continues to sputter, and the Tigers’ win percentage in Nagoya continues to hover around .333 since the opening…