◇ Tohoku Rakuten Eagles vs Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Game 22 (6th, Rakuten Mobile Saikyo Park Miyagi)

Hokkaido Nippon-Ham's Kotaro Kiyomiya and Yuya Shindo hit back-to-back Home Runs.
　
In the top of the 6th inning with the score tied, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham created a scoring opportunity with runners on 1st and 2nd and one out following consecutive hits by Tatsuki Mizuno and Ruan Ohtsuka. Entering the batter's box here, Kotaro Kiyomiya swung through a low breaking ball from the opponent's starting pitcher Ryota Takinaka on a 2-2 count. The ball landed in the left-center stands for a go-ahead 17th 3-run Home Run.

Furthermore, the following batter Yuya Shindo also hit his 5th solo shot to right-center, extending the lead to 4 points. With the 2nd place Seibu Lions, who were 0 games behind as of the previous day, having won their day game, these two big blasts came at a crucial moment where they could not afford to lose.

Text by Aoi Nishijima