One red-hot #3 hitter and his bat were enough for the win again. Jefry Marte hit a home run for the third straight game, and that was the only run scored in this one, despite chances from both teams. Joe Gunkel pitched outstanding, allowing only two runners into scoring position in 6+ innings of work,…
You might not have been tracking along with me, but Hanshin hit just 10 home runs the entire month of September. It is a big reason that the team was unable to get on a roll, and ultimately, it saw the team drop into second place. But tonight, the two sluggers who were in the…
The Tigers got hold to just 4 hits on this day, but it was not all that important, given that they were handed 8 free passes in the first five innings. Two of their hits produced the runs they needed, and three of the walks scored those runs. The Giants made it close at the…
It may be a mystery, but it is no hidden secret that the Hanshin Tigers struggle to score and win at Vantelin Dome Nagoya. After getting on the board in the top of the first and watching starter Masashi Itoh cruise through the first five innings of the game, it looked as though this would…
The Dome. It does not matter how many times the Tigers head to Nagoya… it still baffles the mind that they struggle so much to score (and win) there. Tonight was no exception. Two golden chances ended with nothing, and the defense did a lot worse than the one error that goes on record. But…
After a day off Thursday and a rainout on Friday, it was about time we had some baseball to watch, was it not? The adversary looked good, though, as the Chunichi Dragons have been on a roll lately. Let’s also not forget that their ace, last year’s Sawamura Award winner Yudai Ohno, had a career…
Most of you know about RISP (batting average with runners in scoring position)… and the higher your number, the more clutch you appear to be. That said, our sluggers really blew such chances four innings in a row. The most glaring was a no-out, bases-loaded situation that came up completely fruitless. This game looked like…
After a rough last outing (2 innings, 5 runs), Takumi Akiyama had something to prove. And prove it, he did. His lone base runner through six was a hit batsman, and until the solo home run he gave up in the seventh, he faced the minimum number of batters. He could have easily gone out…
At long last on his eighth attempt, Yuki Nishi has joined the 100-win club. He threw 5 innings and gave up just one run, and thankfully, Jerry Sands came through with the winning RBI as Nishi’s pinch hitter. The relievers held tight, and closer Robert Suarez became the fourth pitcher in club history to record…
Coming from behind to win games feels good, but falling behind early game in and game out, well, does not feel so good. Once again, the Tigers’ starter – in this case, Masashi Itoh – surrendered three runs in the game’s first three innings… and our bats only really came to life in the fifth…