Rookie Shoki Murakami put up some solid numbers on the farm for a good three-month stretch since his top-squad debut at the end of May. Unfortunately, it did not translate into an improvement on his numbers on this night. He allowed runs to score in all three of his innings of work, so despite recording his first career hit, the Tigers were behind early and despite some good opportunities to draw even or take the lead, they did not manage to do so. In the end, the two-run home run given up by sophomore Ippei Ogawa in the bottom of the sixth proved insurmountable. The “bright side” of this one is that the Giants and Swallows both tied their respective games, meaning the damage in the standings was kept to a minimum. Still, two losses to a weak Carp team kind of stings.
