On September 23, the farm regular season game between Hokkaido Nippon-Ham and The Giants, Round 7, held at The Fighters Kamagaya Stadium, ended in a 2-2 draw after 9 innings.

Hokkaido Nippon-Ham starter pitcher Sorato Kawakatsu allowed two opening runs after giving up back-to-back RBI hits in the first inning, but he struck out three consecutive batters in the following no-out, 1st and 2nd base pinch. He continued to demonstrate high strike out ability, leaving the mound after 3 innings with 7 strike out and 2 runs. From the 4th inning onwards, pitcher Junki Shibuya followed with 2 scoreless innings of pitch.

In the bottom of the 4th, the lineup made it 1 out and 3rd base with a triple by Daigo Kamikawahata, and pulled back one run with an RBI hit by Yuki Umebayashi. In the bottom of the 5th, hits by Yuma Imagawa and Yushin Shimizu created a 2-out bases loaded opportunity. Another RBI hit flew out from Umebayashi, and the game returned to the starting point.

The third pitcher, Kanato Anzai, pitched 2 scoreless innings with 5 strike out, including having the batters struck out three consecutive times in the top of the 6th. In the top of the 8th, pitcher Yukiya Saito, and in the top of the 9th, pitcher Lao each held the opponent scoreless while waiting for support from the lineup. However, in the final bottom of the 9th, the batters were retired in order, and the game ended at 2-2. Five pitchers recorded a strike out in every inning, totaling 19 strike out. Imagawa was active with 3 hit, and Umebayashi with 2 hit and 2 RBI, including the game-tying hit.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Total
G 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
F 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 2

G Iori Yamasaki-Ren Tawa-Yusaku Kono-Junki Sonoda-Ryuji Kitaura-Luciano
F Sorato Kawakatsu-Junki Shibuya-Kanato Anzai-Yukiya Saito-Rao

Text by So Yokoyama

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