Hanshin hits back in CLCS
Written by Writer on Monday, October 20th, 2008
Hanshin hits back in CLCS
The Yomiuri Shimbun
(Oct. 20, 2008)
Backed into a corner, the Hanshin Tigers came out fighting on Sunday, scoring early and putting a nine-game postseason skid behind them.
Takashi Toritani’s belted a first-inning, three-run home run and added a solo shot to help power the second-place Tigers past the third-place Chunichi Dragons 7-3 in Game 2 of the best-of-three Central League Climax Series at Kyocera Dome Osaka.
The win extended the first stage of the CLCS to a decisive Game 3 today at Kyocera Dome, and also halted a postseason slide that began when the Tigers lost the final two games to the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks in the 2003 Japan Series.
“We get to play another game tomorrow,” said a relieved Hanshin skipper Akinobu Okada, who will step down after the Tigers’ final game of the season.
“With the way we won today–stringing some hits together for the first time in a while–we have some the momentum going. Hopefully everyone can play well tomorrow.”
Toritani said winning was the only option for the Tigers, who were in first place in the CL for much of the season.
“We wanted to win this game no matter what, and we were able to get it done tonight,” the infielder said.
Tsuyoshi Shimoyanagi bobbed and weaved through 5-1/3 innings to pick up his second career postseason win. The 40-year-old yielded two runs on five hits and three walks to even his career postseason record at 2-2.
Hanshin relied heavily on its bullpen in the regular season, and it came through for the second straight night in the CLCS.
Scott Atchison, Jeff Williams, Tomoyuki Kubota and Kyuji Fujikawa held the Dragons to one run over the final 3-2/3 innings to close out the win.
The Tigers used four straight hits to put up four runs in the opening frame. Tomoaki Kanemoto knocked in the first run with a single and Toritani took loser Chen Wei-yin shot just over the wall in right with two aboard for a 4-0 advantage.
Toritani’s solo homer in the sixth sparked a three-run rally–aided by two Kenichi Nakata wild pitches–that helped the Tigers pull away.
