◇Hokkaido Nippon-Ham vs Saitama Seibu Lions 25th Round (17th, ES CON FIELD)

Hokkaido Nippon-Ham's Kotaro Kiyomiya and Yuki Nomura succeeded in taking the lead with consecutive RBI hits.

Starting pitcher Kota Tatsu pitched three hitless innings in the early stages. The lineup, looking to respond to the strong pitching, created a chance with two outs and runners on 1st and 2nd in the bottom of the 3rd inning through consecutive hits by Shu Yamagata and Haruki Nishikawa. Kotaro Kiyomiya stepped into the batter's box in this situation. Swinging aggressively from the first pitch, he hit a line drive that bounced into right field. Against Canario 's strong arm, 2nd base runner Yamagata showed excellent base running to snatch the opening run.

With two outs and runners on 2nd and 3rd, Nomura showed incredible persistence. Despite being pushed to a 2-2 count, he handled the sharp fastballs and large-breaking balls well, waiting for the perfect pitch. After four consecutive fouls, on the 9th pitch thrown by opposing starter Shinya Sugai, he didn't miss a high slider and drove it the opposite way, adding another run with an RBI hit for his second consecutive game.

The team had Reyes removed from the roster due to injury. They faced the direct clash with 2nd place Saitama Seibu Lions without their main slugger, but the performances of 3rd batter Kotaro Kiyomiya and 4th batter Yuki Nomura brought in the opening runs.

Text by Aoi Yokoyama