10/12/2015: Niihama City, Japan – GAME THREE: Truth be told, winning this series may have mattered little to the Shinkansen, whose front office was understandably more focused on their impending playoff battle against SSG leader Shin Seiki.  But this rubber game clearly mattered to the Ghosts. Players and staff viewed it as a positive sign to win any series against a contending club.  They were determined to close out the season by playing hard each and every game.

A smattering over 17,000 showed up at the Maze yesterday afternoon under clear skies, enjoying warm temperatures and a slight autumn breeze blowing out to right.  On the mound for Niihama-shi was, like Masafumi Kato the previous night, another ostensible innings-eater: 30-year-old Kosaku Sakamoto.  Hyakujuu was going with their ace, one of the best pitchers in the league: 31-year-old Carlos “Chopper” Camacho, already 16-5 on the season.  The stud SP vs. the journeyman. The odds for Game Three clearly favored Hyakuuju.

FIRST INNING: Sakamoto got into trouble right out of the gate.  He gave up two consecutive doubles to CF Shinkichi Ohayashi, hitting in the #2 hole, and RF Tashiaki Tanaka, who drove in Ohayashi.  With only one out, the Ghosts were already down 1-0 and fans were wondering if Sakamoto would last as long as Kato did the night before.  Sakamoto settled down a bit, though, and got out of the inning without further damage.

In the bottom of the 1^st, Chopper proved to be just as shaky, walking leadoff hitter Kiyomitsu Kichikawa and then giving up two consecutive singles to load the bases.  Funny how the tension pendulum swings.  Suddenly, fans were sensing a possible quick hook for Camacho.

After Ghosts DH Michizane Kouki, batting fourth, struck out swinging, 1B António Coronado smacked a long sacrifice to deep right to drive in Kichikawa from third.  Fans sighed in relief. The game was tied 1-1 heading into the 2^nd inning.

INNINGS 2 THROUGH 11: Given this shaky start for both pitchers, what happened next was remarkable: both became fairly untouchable.  Camacho was his usual brilliant self, scattering just a few more hits and allowing no more runs before being lifted at the top of the 8^th.  Sakamoto, who has never been more than mediocre, suddenly looked as though he could match Camacho and then some.  Pitching into the 8^th, Sakamoto also yielded no further runs and just a few more hits while striking out nine.  It was, for the few followers of this journeyman, a revelation.

For the remainder of the 8^th through the 11^th innings, both teams handed the game to the bullpen, and the shutdown of the offense continued.  For the Ghosts, it was Juan Quezada; for the Shinkansen, it was a combination of Yosai Kikuchi and another Mexican, Pepe Rico.  The results:

Quezada: 4.1 IP, 2 hits, 0 runs, 1 BB, 4 K
Kikuchi/Rico: 4.1 IP, 2 hits, 0 runs, 1 BB, 1 K

Both managers had to be pleased.

INNING TWELVE: The game had entered its fourth hour.  In the top of the 12^th, Quezada got Tanaka to ground out, then struck out SS Hokusai Aoki.  At this point, with Quezada tiring, Ghosts manager Andrés Quiñones turned to his closer Kanko Hasegawa even though the game was still tied.  “Kanko was rested and could go multiple innings,” said Quiñones.  “At home, with the possibility of a walk-off in the bottom, bringing him in made sense.”

Hasegawa was a bit wild to start, throwing three balls and a strike to Ryu Sato, who pinch ran for Dracula in the 8^th and stayed in to play second.  The fifth pitch was lined for a single. With 1B Kinji Hayakawa at the plate, Sato stole second.  Suddenly, the potential winning run was in scoring position, and the chances that the Ghosts would win this series seemed slim.

That threat lasted precisely one pitch.  Hasegawa threw a 3-2 fastball that Hayakawa roped into an easy groundout for the third out to end the top of the 12^th. The Ghosts had new life.  The game and the series was theirs to win.  Hyakujuu’s Rico returned to the mound in the bottom of the 12^th and immediately engaged in a lengthy battle with Ghosts SS Dean Jefferson:

0-0: Ball
1-0: Ball
2-0: Foul Ball, location: 2F
2-1: Swinging Strike
2-2: Foul Ball, location: 2F
2-2: Foul Ball, location: 2F
2-2: Strikes out swinging

Jefferson smashed his bat down on the plate and muttered some words of disdain to himself. Even though Rico won that battle, Shinkansen manager Goto thought he had had enough and brought in bullpen stalwart Yasutoki Kamuta.  The game was Kamuta’s to lose.

Greeting him at the plate was Ghosts catcher Azumamaro Fujita, who quickly got down in the count 1-2 before lining to right field for a single.  Quiñones, sensing this could be the Ghosts’ final chance to win, inserted Junji Yoshida as a pinch runner.

With the game on the line, Kamuta faced platoon outfielder Eiichi Abe.  It was fitting. Both Abe and Yoshida came to the Ghosts in an off-season trade with Naha that sent SP Juan Castro to the playoff-bound Shisa.  Now the Ghosts needed both to win.

The stats did not favor the Ghosts in this matchup.  Abe had done well during the season, but primarily against left-handers.  In fact, Abe hit .297 against southpaws and just .239 against righties. Here, he faced a veteran right-hander.

Kamuta, ironically, was a former Ghost. He toiled seven seasons with Niihama-shi (2007-13). The best season of his long career came in 2009 when, at age 27, he went 17-8 with a 3.13 ERA. Niihama-shi released him and he signed a minor league contract with the Shinkansen.  Fate brought him back to the bigs for this pivotal moment against his old club.

Abe dug in at the plate and gave Kamuta a long stare.  Kamuta looked at signs from Shinkansen catcher Naosuke Sasaki, who was clearly exhausted after catching all 12 innings.  Unable to agree, Sasaki trotted out to the mound and the two huddled briefly.  The Ghosts fans remaining in the stands (many had left to avoid freeway traffic jams) jeered and hooted.

Sasaki finally returned to take his position.  The crowd was quiet, except for one fan behind the home team dugout yelling profanities at Kamuta. Perhaps being jeered by his former team’s fans unnerved him.  Kamuto suddenly uncorked a wild pitch that sailed over Sasaki’s head to the backstop.  Yoshida capitalized, sliding into second for an easy stolen base.

Now the potential winning run was in scoring position and Kamuto was behind 1-0 to Abe. Perhaps sensing that the pitcher was unsettled, others joined the profane fan’s jeering.  Sasaki again trotted out to the mound to settle down his pitcher, prompting the umpire to walk halfway out to move them along. With the catcher back in position, Abe settled into his stance at the plate and waited to see if Kamuta could reclaim the strike zone.  Abe was determined not to strike out.

1-0: Foul Ball, location: 2F
1-1: Foul Ball, location: 2F
1-2: Foul Ball, location: 2F
1-2: Foul Ball, location: 2F
1-2: Ball

Now the count was 2-2.  The remaining fans – 6,000 or so – were chanting in unison words that cannot be repeated here.  Abe was battling.  Kamuto was battling.  The sore Sasaki grimaced behind his mask.  The umpire signaled that time was in.

Kamuto later insisted to reporters that he was not unnerved by the crowd.  34-year-old veterans don’t allow themselves to hear the chanting.  But truth was, he was already tired.  He has thrown more than 830 innings in his big league career, and pain in his shoulder and elbow are constantly present.  He knew he didn’t have much left on this particular afternoon.  He knew he didn’t have much left in his career. Sasaki, sensing Kamuto’s fatigue, called for an inside changeup. Velocity, or lack thereof, shouldn’t be an issue; location was key.

Inside changeups were, frankly, the bane of the right-handed Abe’s existence.  With a right-hander on the mound, those pitches were simply too difficult to pick up.  By the time he grasped their location, the ball would simply drop and he would all too often swing wildly.  It was his Achilles’ heel, as it was for many others like him.  Sometimes, he just closed his eyes as the bat wheeled around him.

Kamuta went into his windup.  The aches of thousands of pitches in the minors and bigs, in pre-game warm-ups and in the bullpen… those ever-present aches shot through his shoulder as he unfurled his seventh and final pitch to Abe, the final pitch of the game.

It never went inside as intended.  Kamuta realized it wouldn’t at the moment of release.  The pitch instead sailed smoothly, slowly down the heart of the plate at Abe’s waistline.  Abe was startled by how easy it was to see that ball.  If only all pitches could be.

The ball smacked off his bat and shot onto the grass past the outstretched glove of shortstop Aoki.  Centerfielder Ohayashi ran toward it, but he knew there was no point.  The speedy Yoshida had already rounded third and his teammates greeted him in jubilation at the plate. They bounced and hooted, then ran over to pound on Abe’s batting helmet.

It is called a walk-off run because the losing pitcher must walk off the mound, off the field, off into his somber dugout as the winning team celebrates.  Kamuta the veteran knew the precise moment the ball escaped his grip that a walk-off would be needed.  Kamuta the veteran had walked off before too many times.  It never got easier.  Now he bit the right side of his lower lip but held his head up as he walked silently, mechanically from the field.

The game was over.  The series was over.  The Shinkansen have greater glory awaiting them: their first playoff appearance since 2007.  But the Ghosts, with a squad dominated by youngsters, celebrated into the evening.  Today is an off-day, after all.  Sure, it was just a regular season game, a meaningless series.  But for this moment, at least, they had every right to be proud.