Takumi Akiyama did not look like himself again. He now has as many walks in his last two outings (5) as he had in his first seven. Still, he kept the damage to a minimum, thanks in large part to UZR king Koji Chikamoto’s superior range in center. Meanwhile, the bats found all the gaps,…
This game started like the Tigers were going to run away with it. Home runs in the first two innings by Yusuke Ohyama and Teruaki Sato, and on top of that, Raul Alcantara looked like he was going to Maddux the Buffaloes. But then, it was as though two completely different teams were playing each…
Masashi Itoh played high school baseball at Yokohama Stadium, so his first pro mound in the ballpark probably was not as intimidating as it would be for some freshmen. He was celebrating his 25th birthday as well, though he says he did not really think about that very much as he went about his business….
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…
Coming into this game, it had been a full 27 innings (three games) since the Tigers had recorded an RBI hit. Wednesday’s loss saw them score their lone run on a sacrifice fly, and the game before, it was Teruaki Sato’s home run. On Sunday, their seven runs came on: a two-run homer, a wild…
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…
If Friday’s loss left a bad taste in the mouth of Tigers’ fans, you’d better believe it did the same to the Tigers’ players. And they made the Baystars pitchers in particular pay the price. This one was a no-doubter from the onset, and though I was in attendance, I missed the first inning, which…
There’s nothing more dangerous than playing a team that is riding an extra-long winless streak. You just don’t want to be the team that ends it for them. And yet these Tigers played their worst game of the year, and what honestly should have been a 1-1 tie at worst ended up a blowout loss,…
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…
These Hanshin Tigers starting pitchers keep getting the job done. Entering tonight’s game, Takumi Akiyama was the “worst” of the rotation with a 2.75 ERA. All he did was go out and pitch 7 shutout innings to lower that number to 1.80 (which is still just 4th best on the staff). And as for the…