On September 20, the 30th regular season game between Fukuoka Softbank and the Hanshin Tigers was held at Tama Home Stadium Chikugo, and Fukuoka Softbank lost 5 to 9.

Starting pitcher Tomohisa Ozeki gave up one run in the first inning and continued to concede runs every inning, allowing a total of 7 runs on 8 hits and 4 Walks over 4 innings and 77 pitches. Meanwhile, the lineup got one run back in the bottom of the 3rd inning with an RBI hit by Yuto Akihiro, and in the bottom of the 4th after the lead had widened again, they scored three runs through consecutive RBI hits by Takanori Takahashi and Shuya Oizumi. In the bottom of the 5th, they created an opportunity with back-to-back hits and closed the gap to two runs with a sacrifice fly from Takahashi.

The second pitcher, Shunsuke Iwai, pitched well, allowing no runs on one hit over 2 innings. Hsu Jo-Hsi followed with two scoreless innings starting from the 7th, but in the top of the 9th, Hikaru Kimura gave up two runs, extending the deficit to four. The lineup was held to just one hit from the 6th inning onwards, and the game ended 5 to 9. Itua Ikhine and Ryuta Hirose recorded two hits each, while Takahashi marked 2 RBI.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Total
HAN 1 1 3 2 0 0 0 0 2 9
SOF 0 0 1 3 1 0 0 0 0 5

HAN Saku Hayase-Yuta Iwasada-Kai Matsubara-○Kaito Shimomura-Junya Tsuda-Moretta
SOF ●Tomohisa Ozeki-Shunsuke Iwai-Hsu Jo-Hsi-Hikaru Kimura

Text by Minagi Niwa

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