The Hanshin Tigers' pitchers need to step up.
The past several days have been hard on the Tigers, with the team watching its top two pitchers go down with injuries in a span of five days. Now it's up to the rest of the rotation to help keep Hanshin moving forward as it fights battles on two fronts — namely trying to catch the first-place Hiroshima Carp (7½ games ahead to start Saturday) while also maintaining an edge on the third-place Yokohama BayStars (three games back) in order to finish no worse than second in the Central League.
Tigers ace Randy Messenger (11-5, 2.46 ERA) was knocked out of Thursday's game against the Yomiuri Giants when Shinnosuke Abe banged the 1,997th hit of his career off the pitcher's right leg. Messenger was diagnosed with a broken fibula on Friday and it's unknown if he'll make it back this season.