It’s always a little alarming when people start talking about a perfect game before it’s half over, but Shoki Murakami was dealing. No one reached base against him through four innings, conjuring up images of his first start in 2023 against the Yomiuri Giants (April 12, 7 perfect innings). The perfect game vanished against the…
The Tigers had a long layoff from competitive baseball, having most recently played on October 4. That said, they clinched the CL pennant on September 14, so one could argue that it had been 5 weeks since their last important game. Despite just one hit in the game’s first three innings, they did put good…
History was made at Hanshin Koshien Stadium last night, September 14. The Tigers had a magic number of 1, and were riding a 10-game winning streak. Their perfect September was on the line, and an 11-game streak had not been achieved in 41 seasons. Nevertheless, the team put aside some early-inning jitters (see recap below)…
Say goodbye to the September swoons of our team’s past! This team is a perfect 8-0 this month after completely controlling the action at Koshien Stadium against the second-place Carp! The three starting pitchers – Shoki Murakami / Koutaro Ohtake / Masashi Itoh – combined to throw 22 innings of three-run ball (two earned), walking…
If you have read any of my series recaps over the past 8 years, you know what I’m going to say. I’m a broken record when it comes to this because it’s such a solid fact: the Hanshin Tigers do not score many runs or win many games in Nagoya at the Dome. Well after…
Ironic, isn’t it, that the first full series that I was able to watch after being away from Japan most of August wasn’t even on network TV! Nevertheless, the Tigers were able to take advantage of a weakened Swallows lineup. On Friday, rookie Shota Morishita hit two bombs at a stadium he played in often…
After one of the most successful August road trips ever (at least I presume that 18-5 is good), the Tigers were welcomed home at Koshien Stadium by excited fans, by kids who were hoping to witness a win before returning to school, by a new cheer song for Shota Morishita. But they got beaten fair…
Note: I did not watch these games and am doing this recap (along with the rest of the August scorecards) retrospectively for the purpose of having them on record. Enjoy the scorecards for what they are worth, but I do not have anything insightful to say about this series. I hear that Tuesday’s game was…
Note: I did not watch these games and am doing this recap (along with the rest of the August scorecards) retrospectively for the purpose of having them on record. Enjoy the scorecards for what they are worth, but I do not have anything insightful to say about this series. SWEEEEEEEEP!
The Hiroshima Carp entered this series on a 10-game winning streak. Because of this, the Tigers found themselves on the outside looking in for just the second time since May. And just like last time, the team that took over first only stayed there for one game. Starting pitching held the Carp to a minimum…