When your best pitcher gets tagged for five straight hits to open the game, and you find yourself down six runs with just a few innings to go, it’s easy to just pack it in and hope for better fortunes tomorrow. Fans who did just this are kicking themselves now, because they gave up on a team that continues to defy all sorts of odds. Now they are just a win from advancing to Round 2.

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Hanshin 0 0 0 1 0 0 4 3 0 8 12 0 DeNA 3 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 7 14 0

Bottom 1 – A Nightmare Beyond Tigers’ Wildest Imaginations

Yuki Nishi has been steady all season, especially against the Yokohama DeNA BayStars. Surely no one in the entire world could have predicted that he would give up five straight hits, including a three-run jack to Yoshitomo Tsutsugoh, without getting a single out. (No playoff game in NPB history had ever started like this…) The fifth hit was a line drive off his lower ankle, which knocked him out of the game. Fortunately, Koki Moriya kept his two inherited runners from scoring. Still…

Yokohama 3, Hanshin 0

Top 4 – One Manufactured Run

Yusuke Ohyama led off with a double to left-center, moved to third on Kento Itohara‘s line drive to right, and scored on Ryutaro Umeno‘s sacrifice fly to right. Nothing too spectacular here, but thankfully Onelki Garcia pitched three clean innings to keep this one close. Until…

Yokohama 3, Hanshin 1

Bottom 5 – Floodgates Re-Open

Hiroya Shimamoto ended the regular season with something like 21 straight mounds without giving up a run. (His ERA in July, August and September was ZERO.) But after one quick out to his old mate Yamato, he gave up back-to-back hits. Not to worry, though, right? He’s got Tsutsugoh’s number this year. There was even an article in Daily Sports yesterday highlighting this fact. First-pitch single to right and we’re in trouble. Then Lopez hit a grounder to third that bounced off the bag and past Ohyama. A couple of batters later and the ‘Stars cashed in a couple more runs. Uh-oh…

Yokohama 7, Hanshin 1

Top 7 – Cue the Start of the Comeback

For reasons known only to BayStars manager Alex Ramirez, Edison Barrios took the mound. He who had just 3 games of experience this year. All against Hanshin, and all as a starter, and none of them particularly good. After a quick out, the wheels fell off. Shun Takayama with a double. Seiya Kinami with a pinch-hit RBI single. Koji Chikamoto with his second hit of the day, this one an infield single to short. Enter the hero of the day, Fumiya Hojoh…

https://twitter.com/yakyuragu/status/1180390710509359104?s=20

Yokohama 7, Hanshin 5

Top 8 – Comeback Completed by Same Two!

For reasons known only to BayStars manager Alex Ramirez, Edwin Escobar, who served up the homer to Hojoh in the 7th, was allowed to bat in the bottom of the inning and started off the 8th with a thud. Well, not entirely true. He got an out, then allowed a hit to Umeno, then Takayama grounded into a forceout at second. He stole second, then came home on a Kinami RBI single. Chikamoto smacked one into right, then took second base for his second steal of the day, and the outfield came in close to try to prevent a lead change. Enter the hero of the day, Fumiya Hojoh…

https://twitter.com/yakyuragu/status/1180399139856601088?s=20

Hanshin 8, Yokohama 7

The bullpen was stellar as usual. Suguru Iwazaki struck out the side in the 8th and Kyuji Fujikawa got the game’s final three outs to preserve the win. The six-run deficit that the Tigers overcame was the largest come-from-behind in Climax Series history. Well done, men!

https://twitter.com/yakyuragu/status/1180408151125839873?s=20

Game 2 is Sunday, October 6 at 2:00 pm JST in Yokohama.

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