CL Climax Series: Giants advance to the Nippon Series by beating the Dragons, 8-2
by Gen on Oct.25, 2009 @ 2:06 am, under Game Summaries, NPB
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| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chunichi Dragons | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 1 |
| Yomiuri Giants | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | X | 8 | 9 | 1 |
Tokyo Dome | Attendance: 46,535 | Time: 3h 37m | Giants take series, 4-1
The Giants convincingly beat the Chunichi Dragons, 8-2, to advance to the Nippon Series.
Hayato Sakamoto (2-for-4, 2) led off the first inning with a double and came around to score when Kenichi Nakata (P) made a throwing error on Tetsuya Matsumoto's (1-for-2, BB, 2 R) sac bunt. Michihiro Ogasawara (1-for-3, 2 BB, R) walked to put runners on first and second. Alex Ramirez (1-for-5, R, 2 RBI) struck out next for the first out of the inning, but Yoshiyuki Kamei (3-for-4, R, RBI) hit a single in to center to give the Giants a 2-0 lead. Yoshitomo Tani (1-for-4, HR, R, 4 RBI) struck out and Shinnosuke Abe (0-for-2, 2 BB) flied out to left for the final two outs of the inning.
The Giants pushed 5 more runs across in the bottom of the 3rd:
Matsumoto walked and stole second. Ogasawara hit a single that put runners on first and third. Ramirez drove in the third run of the game with a single into left. Kamei reached on a bunt single that loaded the bases. And Tani delivered the decisive blow: a grand slam to put the Giants up by 7.
Chunichi finally got on the board in the top of the 4th on a 1-out solo homer by Tony Blanco (1-for-4, HR, R, RBI). In the top of the 5th, the Dragons tacked on another run after Masahiro Araki (1-for-4, RBI) hit a single into center following a 1-out single by Motonobu Tanishige (2-for-4, R), a fielding error by Kamei (1B) on a grounder to first by pinch hitter Kazuki Inoue (0-for-1), and a single into center by Hirokazu Ibata (1-for-4) to load the bases.
An RBI ground out by Ramirez in the bottom of the 6th with runners on first and third and 1 out gave the Giants an 8-2 lead.
The Giants bullpen retired the last 10 batters in row to keep the Dragons from scoring any more runs after the 5th.
Missed Opportunities
Dragons
3rd: runner on second, 1 out > Ibata grounded out, runner on third, Araki struck out
5th: bases loaded, 1 out > Morino struck out and Blanco struck out
Giants
1st: runners on first and second, 1 out > Tani struck out and Abe flied out
3rd: runners on first and third, 1 out > Sakamoto struck out
6th: runner on second, 2 out > Kamei flied out
8th: runner on 2nd, 1 out > Ogasawara flied out, runner on third, Ramirez struck out
Dragons: 6 LOB, 0 DP
Giants: 8 LOB, 0 DP
News
The Giants outhit the Dragons, 9-6. ... The grand slam was Tani' first of his career. ...Attendance of 46,535 established a new season high.
Chunichi Dragons
| Name | G | W | L | S | IP | NP | BF | AB | H | HR | K | BB | HBP | SHF | WP | BK | R | ER | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nakata, Kenichi L | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 0/3 | 63 | 16 | 12 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 5 | 22.500 |
| Payano, Nelson | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 32 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 |
| Kobayashi, Masato | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 1/3 | 26 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3.375 |
| Kawahara, Junichi | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2/3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 |
| Nelson, Maximo | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 |
| Ito, Junki | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 |
Yomiuri Giants
| Name | G | W | L | S | IP | NP | BF | AB | H | HR | K | BB | HBP | SHF | WP | BK | R | ER | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tono, Shun | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 1/3 | 97 | 20 | 19 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2.077 |
| Ochi, Daisuke W | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 2/3 | 26 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.818 |
| Toyoda, Kiyoshi | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 |
| Yamaguchi, Tetsuya | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 |
| Kroon, Marc | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 |
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Hiromitsu Ochiai after the game:
"Although we ended up losing, [I think] we still have room to grow. If we can improve ourselves a bit more, we can become as good as the Giants. We didn't have what it takes to win this year, but I think we have more than enough chance to overtake them next season."
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...Giants' players have been staying at the hotel near the Tokyo Dome for the Climax Series. Since there's some concern about the swine flu, the players have been told to avoid public places. Because of that, it seems some Giants' players have turned to holding rock, scissor, paper tournaments to pass the time away.
Like I said, this country just loves a good game of rock, scissor paper.
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Kazuyoshi Tatsunami's last ever at bat of his career ended up being a fly out to left in the top of the 9th against Marc Kroon. Fans gave Tatsunami a nice round of applause he trotted back to the dugout after his at bat.
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CL Climax Series MVP
Ryota Wakiya
Wakiya had only three trips to the plate over the four games the Giants played against the Dragons, but it was his pinch hit 2-run double in Friday night's game that helped the team continue its winning ways.
