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…
We were watching our child learning to ride a bicycle today. Fall off, scrape a knee, pick him back up, dust him off, encourage him to keep trying – he’ll get it right next time. Repeat the process enough, and the kid will eventually figure it out, right? Well, today, the opportunities could have been…
The Tigers had a seven-game lead over the Giants heading into this weekend tilt. They put seven runs up on the scoreboard in the first one-third of the game, pushing their winning streak to seven and shoving the Giants down into third place. But we all know that there is still plenty of season left,…
This game started really poorly for the Tigers bats, as they hit into double plays in the first two innings, but then they came to life after that for a couple of innings… and then went right back into hibernation. Good thing Raul Alcantara had four strong innings of his own (and two not-so-good ones),…
Despite seeing the Giants set up runners on the corners in multiple innings on this night, Masashi Itoh got himself out of many jams. However, he definitely did not have his best stuff. Luckily, super-rookie Teruaki Sato looked ready to carry his teammate, even the entire team, on his broad shoulders. His first two at-bats…
Well, it was bound to happen eventually. Already at this point, the Pacific League had played 15 tie games, and the Central had 10. The Tigers were part of none of them. This was hardly the ideal scenario in which to break that streak – the two-run lead did not hold, and the bats were…
The Tigers put men on base in the first three innings, only to snuff out chances with double plays each time. It was beginning to look like the Swallows would win their first day game of the season, while the Tigers lost theirs, as starter Yuki Nishi sputtered in the middle innings. However, a clutch…
For the second straight game, our bats failed to produce multiple runs. While this one was close most of the way, two home runs in the bottom of the eighth served up by Yuta Iwasada made this one a blowout in the end. Hoping to avoid the sweep tomorrow with Wei-Yin Chen making his top-squad…
Friday night, a boatload of walks and a pair of errors extended the Tigers’ losing streak to three, and ended the Baystars’ winless streak at 12. Saturday, the Baystars got thumped HARD. On this day, the lead changed hands four times, once thanks to a pair of defensive blunders by the visiting team – a…
Though the Tigers were riding a 7-game winning streak heading into this one, the Giants were also on a 6-game tear of their own. Without some of their recovering Covid-infected players (Maru, Nakajima, Wheeler, Wakabayashi). Plus, there were rumors that Eric Thames and Justin Smoak could be activated for this series. No worries, though. Our…