On September 30, the 24th game between Rakuten Eagles and Chiba Lotte Marines held at Rakuten Mobile Saikyo Park Miyagi ended in a 3-0 win for Rakuten Eagles.

Starting pitcher Kosei Shoji got off to a scoreless start in the first and second innings. In the top of the third, he allowed a lead-off hit and faced a bases loaded crisis with two outs, but he got the next batter to hit an infield pop fly. Then, in the bottom of the third, the lineup loaded the bases starting with a doble by Ryuya Taira with two outs, and took a 2-point lead with a timely infield hit by Itsuki Murabayashi.

After receiving support, pitcher Shoji pitched perfectly from the fourth inning through the seventh. The lineup added another run in the bottom of the seventh with a timely doble by Hikaru Ota, making the score 3-0. Pitcher Shoji gave up a lead-off hit in the top of the eighth, but calmly retired the following batters, leaving the mound after 8 innings, 123 pitches, 4 hits, 1 Walk, 8 strike out, and 0 runs.

In the top of the ninth, pitcher Shoma Fujihira closed the game to end it. Pitcher Shoji, who earned his 9th win, brought his strike out count for this season to 171, putting him 12 ahead of 2nd place pitcher Hiromi Ito. He drew significantly closer to his first title. For the defeated Chiba Lotte Marines, starting pitcher Lucchesi pitched 7 innings with 101 pitches, 6 hits, 1 Hit by Pitch, 8 strike out, and 3 runs, but the lineup ended with a total of 6 hits and could not provide support. Daito Yamamoto recorded 2 hits.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Total
M 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
E 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 X 3

M ●Lucchesi-Fumiya Ono
E ○Kosei Shoji-S Shoma Fujihira

Text by Minagi Niwa