Lotte's Kazuya Ojima reached the required number innings pitched for the fifth consecutive year this season, but with 8 wins and 10 losses, he was unable to achieve double-digit win for the third consecutive year.
For the team to win the league championship, it is necessary for both ace pitchers Kojima and Atsuki Taneichi to pitch long inning, as well as build up a lead. Kojima had a 10-4 record in 2021, giving him a lead of six, and a 10-6 record in 2023, giving him a lead of four. However, last season, despite recording a career-high 12 wins, he only had a lead of two. This season, he has had more losses than wins, with a record of 8 wins and 10 losses.
When asked what is needed to increase his lead, Kojima reflected, "My ERA has always been good, and although it happens sometimes, I'm not pitcher closer teams to zero runs.In terms of playing well, there have been many games this year where when I was bad, it just turned into bad numbers."He also expressed his own thoughts, saying, "I've never thought that QS was good, but if I could always aim to play games that were around HQS even at my worst, I think that would make a difference in the number of wins and losses."
"The actual wins and losses depend on the balance of the batting lineup, so I don't think it's something I can do anything about, but I want to improve my QS rate and HQS rate," he said, vowing to improve his QS (six or more innings with three or fewer earned runs) and HQS (seven innings with two or fewer earned runs). This season, he has pitched in 24 games, with seven HQS and 12 QS. Last season, he pitched in 25 games, with 13 HQS and 16 QS, and in 2023, he pitched in 25 games, with nine HQS and 16 QS.
"Not only is the technical aspect important, but I also think that physical strength is important. Also, there are a lot of home run being hit by right-handed batters, so I think we need to come up with a solid strategy to deal with that as well," he said. This season, he has allowed a league-worst 20 Home Run runs, 17 of which were hit by right-handed hitter, so preventing Home Run from right-handed hitter will also be an important factor in building up a lead.
"Of course I was disappointed with my own numbers, but even more so with the team's standings. Even with this standings, a lot of fans came to support us until the end, both at home and away, and they continued to cheer us on as loudly as usual. It was nice to pitch while feeling their cheers, but I also felt a little sorry and frustrated. I really hope that next year we can show the team more exciting games. I will definitely show them next year." We hope that he will contribute to many win and accumulate many points next season.
▼Kojima's wins and losses by year
2019: 3 wins, 5 losses
20 years: 7 wins, 8 losses
2021: 10 wins, 4 losses
22 years: 3 wins, 11 losses
23 years: 10 wins, 6 losses
24 years: 12 wins, 10 losses
25 years: 8 wins, 10 losses
Interview and text by Yuta Iwashita
