◆2025 Persol Climax Series Pacific Final Stage Game 3 Softbank 0-6 Nippon-Ham (17th, Mizuho PayPay Dome)
Nippon-Ham, who were on the brink of defeat, won a complete victory over Softbank, bringing their record to 1 win and 3 losses (Softbank has a 1-win advantage). Ace pitcher Hiromi Ito (28), who won 14 games this season and was crowned Pacific League 's most wins and most strike out pitched a passionate 8 innings, throwing 116 pitches, allowing no runs and striking out 11 strike out. In his hero interview, he declared, "We're definitely going to win!"
The day before, fourth-year right-hander Ren Fukushima became the third player on the team to record double-digit strike out, following Yu Darvish and Shohei Ohtani, but they were unable to secure win. Ito commented, "In the first game, Kota (Tatsu) and Ren pitched extremely well yesterday, so I wanted to pitch longer inning and get more struck out than them. I was in a tight spot, but I was pitching with Softbank, determined to turn the tide."
The batting line also took the lead in the first inning with sacrifice fly by No. 4 hitter Gunji, who had struck out on a good opportunity the day before. With the score at 2-0 in the seventh inning, they pulled away with four runs in one go. "When I went to the trainer's room last night, (Kiyomiya) Kotaro said, 'We're carrying over, so we'll score some runs tomorrow,' so I believed him," he said, expressing his gratitude for the strong support. "There are fans watching in Hokkaido, so I'll do my best to keep my promise," he said, vowing to make a major comeback and advance to the Japan Series.
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・ [Scoreboard] Softbank vs. Nippon-Ham
・ [Pacific League CS] Nippon-Ham Fighters manager Tsuyoshi Shinjo, who win, did not respond to interviews. "The fishing master and the face of the number four batter."
・ [Pacific League CS] Softbank loses by shutout game, Japan Series advancement will be decided after the fourth game
・ [Pacific League CS] Shinjo Ham returns to the "drama" stage with a win in the final series... No. 4 Gunji scores 4 RBI and Ito shuts out the opponents in the 8th inning
