Honestly, after five innings, this one looked over. Just like the other games in this series. But the Tigers bats once again woke up late and put a scare into the Giants’ bullpen and bench. Takumi Akiyama only lasted two innings after surrendering yet another first-inning home run, and Shintaro Fujinami served one up to…
Through the top of the sixth, this one looked really lopsided, as though the Tigers were going to simply bow down to the Giants yet again… but somebody turned off the orange light and flipped on the yellow switch. Yuki Nishi missed his spot a few times in the middle innings, putting the team down…
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,…
Masashi Itoh continued his dominant form against the Baystars, going 8 strong innings and making just a few mistakes with pitch locations. Meanwhile, Mel Rojas Jr led off the scoring with a line-drive, solo home run into the front row of the right-field bleachers. Later in the game, he put the Tigers ahead for good…
This was far from an ideal game, far from an ideal series. But nevertheless, with the game on the line, captain Yusuke Ohyama delivered, hitting a go-ahead three-run into a crowd of rain-soaked Yakult Swallows fans in right field. Joe Gunkel had one bad inning but was otherwise solid. Jefry Marte continues to get on…
For the first time in 17 games, Yusuke Ohyama hit a ball over the fence. And all it took was dropping him down to seventh in the batting order. That was a huge key to victory, but so was Koyo Aoyagi’s outstanding outing, which has further cemented him as a true pillar in the rotation,…
Joe Gunkel was having himself a game for the ages. The second-year American hurler, who says he is more of a contact pitcher than anything, struck out ten and scattered just three hits (one a solo home run) over seven innings. He left with the game tied, and no one could have possibly imagined a…
Koyo Aoyagi did not look like himself tonight. Strike out the side? Finish the night with 9 Ks? And just one (intentional) walk? A single that led to a five-run rally? Not sure what to make of it. But hey, the three-game losing streak is over and the sun shines brightly on the team once…
I’m not sure if you all followed my guide and did your part, but fans across Japan (and around the world) made their wishes known, and the result is seven… SEVEN Hanshin Tigers getting voted into the All-Star games, which will take place on July 16 and 17 (Saitama & Sendai, respectively). Keep in mind…
Today was a showdown of two pitchers who recently were named to the Japanese Olympic baseball team: Koyo Aoyagi and Yudai Ohno. One has gotten very little recognition despite a fairly solid couple of years. The other won the Eiji Sawamura Award last season. It didn’t matter, though, as our guys pieced together a nice…