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The story
In Central League action on the 9th, the Hiroshima Carp snapped their losing streak with a 3-1 win over the Hanshin Tigers, as Hiroki Toko pitched eight scoreless innings and Ryosuke Kikuchi and Kento Nakamura delivered back-to-back RBI hits. Rei Takahashi pitched gutsily for the Tigers but got no run support, dropping Hanshin to their third straight loss and casting a shadow over the pennant race. On 5channel’s live-thread, fans debated from every angle — questioning manager Kyuji Fujikawa’s in-game decisions, puzzling over how the Tigers keep struggling overall despite dominating the Giants head-to-head, and voicing hope tied to the number of remaining games at Koshien.
Hiroshima 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 ｜3
Hanshin 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 ｜1
[Battery]
Source: nikkansports.com / Original article here
What people said
Hashigami: Arai, shake! Woof woof!
Hashigami: Good boy! Now go bite the Tigers!
Arai: Chomp chomp!
Fujikawa's already locked in to stay on as manager next season too, so missing the pennant changes nothing.
They get your hopes up that we're catching up, then crush us in the head-to-head games just to show the gap in class.
It's like being tortured slowly to death by a snake.
Pitchers of record
Winning pitcher: Toko, Carp (7-4, 0 SV)
Losing pitcher: Takahashi, Tigers (13-3, 0 SV)
Save: Moriura, Carp (5-2, 20 SV)
Maybe they're focusing too much on the Giants games.
They're losing so much everywhere else that the gap never widens.
Same as the last series — why does the Tigers side play every single game like it's do-or-die?
The Tigers are so weak it's hilarious lololol
We won ♪ we won ♪ we won again ♪
Beat the 'Stinkers' again ♪ (a mocking pun on 'Tigers')
Hurry home on the JR Kobe Line ♪
MBS isn't getting off easy for this!
Udon (a TV personality) might lose his gigs in Kansai over this.
But if he didn't even know 'V yanen!' (the Tigers' championship victory chant), that means Udon was just a bandwagon fan too.
Fujikawa: doesn't matter what else happens, he's going all-in to beat the Giants no matter what.
Hashigami: even if he writes off a tough Tigers matchup, he makes up for it elsewhere and then some.
Looking at the whole season, the latter approach might be the smarter one.
Empty stands again today too 💦
That's the 'Tax League' for you (a mocking pun on セ・リーグ/Central League, jabbing at its low attendance) — empty stands even though it's only weekend games once a week.
Their win rate at Koshien apparently isn't great, but with a lot of the remaining games there, maybe there's a shot.
If the Giants had already finished their whole schedule and the Tigers just had 3 games left, sure — but I can't picture the current Tigers winning all 3 of those games in the thick of a pennant race.
What is wrong with you, Hiroshima…
I will never forgive you.
You're Tokyo's lackeys. What a truly pathetic team.
Fujikawa picked a fight with Arai (got in his face like a thug), so he snapped and turned into Yomiuri's lapdog.
Got beat by Toko, a hometown boy from Amagasaki (right near Koshien).
Background and Talking Points
The Hanshin Tigers remain in first place in the Central League, but after dropping this three-game series to the Carp, their lead over the second-place Giants still isn’t widening the way you’d expect. As commenters in the thread pointed out, the Tigers have a commanding record against the Giants head-to-head this season, but they keep dropping games against other opponents — the Carp in particular — which is dragging down their overall results. Opinions were split on manager Kyuji Fujikawa’s approach, with a persistent theory that he’s prioritizing Giants matchups above everything else and treating other series as expendable. It’s also worth noting the Tigers have more games left to play than the Giants, so the raw game-back number alone doesn’t fully capture how tight things really are. And since Fujikawa’s return as manager next season is already locked in regardless of how this year finishes, that’s useful context for reading the thread’s debate over his in-game decisions.
* This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5channel (Sports News+) thread “[Baseball] Central League: Tigers 1-3 Carp [9/9] — Carp Snap Losing Skid as Toko Fires 8 Scoreless, Kikuchi & Nakamura Deliver Back-to-Back RBI Hits; Tigers Fall to 3rd Straight Loss.”
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