On September 17th from 18:00, the 25th game between Hokkaido Nippon-Ham and Saitama Seibu Lions will be held at ES CON FIELD.

【Match Record】Hokkaido Nippon-Ham (3rd) vs. Saitama Seibu Lions (2nd) 11 wins, 12 losses, 1 draw

【Announced Starters】
Hokkaido Nippon-Ham: Kota Tatsu pitcher 25 games 4 wins 7 losses, ERA 3.02
Saitama Seibu Lions: Shinya Sugai pitcher 8 games 2 wins 2 losses, ERA 2.79

Hokkaido Nippon-Ham starter Kota Tatsu pitcher, in his previous matchup against Saitama Seibu Lions (August 26th), earned a complete game win with 9 innings, 131 pitches, 6 hit, 1 Walk, 10 strike out, and 1 runs. He wants to pitch well in this season's final game against 2nd place Saitama Seibu Lions to close the game gap.

In the batting order, Chusei Mannami and Haruki Nishikawa were promoted to the first team on the 15th and started the same day. Mannami produced 2 hit including his 21st solo home run, and Nishikawa recorded a timely triple and a stolen base, leaving immediate results.

For Saitama Seibu Lions, Shinya Sugai pitcher will start. In his previous appearance (9th, Orix Buffaloes game), he had an emergency exit after 3.2 innings. Will he deliver a brilliant pitch at the away stadium to secure his first win since May? In the batting order, Canario hit his 12th solo home run in the previous matchup against pitcher Tatsu.

◇pitcher Sugai Comment
"Since my last appearance, I have been working on recovering my condition. I have the impression that The Fighters batting order attacks aggressively from any batting order. Precisely because they are an opponent I have few opportunities to face, I want to prepare thoroughly. It will be a very important game, but I want to focus on delivering my own style of pitch."