The incredulous cries from Hanshin Tigers fans rang out around Tokyo Dome the second the public address announcer said Fumihito Haraguchi’s name. It was no slight against Haraguchi, a longtime member of the team. It was because Haraguchi was heading to the plate as a pinch hitter for starting pitcher Shoki Murakami, who was six outs away from a perfect game.
When Kazuma Okamoto led off the bottom of the eighth with a game-tying home run for the Yomiuri Giants, it only added insult to injury to the legion of yellow-clad fans in the stands in left field.
The fans and players were still all smiles by the end of the night, though, after Koji Chikamoto hit a tiebreaking RBI single in the 10th to help the Tigers earn a 2-1 win over the Giants at the Big Egg on Wednesday.
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Source : Baseball – The Japan Times