On the 7th, Orix Buffaloes Buffaloes pitcher Shumpeita Yamashita (23) broke out in a cold sweat. During a training camp in Miyazaki, he was in bullpen when a curveball that escaped hit Sugimoto, who was batting right-handed, close to the left thigh. "I hit him... I'm glad it was a curveball, and it was my foot. I'm sorry," he said, reflecting on the incident.

Aiming to be the opening pitcher for the first time since 23 years ago, the 161 km/h right-hander is in his seventh year as a professional. On this day, his fastest pitch was measured at 154 km/h, so "(If I had hit a fastball) they would have hated me. It was really dangerous. I'll go and apologize with all my might later!" he said, heading to his senior from the 11th year after practice. It was thought that a "brawl" could break out, but as you'd expect from the kind-hearted Raoh, he joked back, "It's totally fine. I told them, 'The spin wasn't very effective, so it's no big deal' (laughs)."