Many Lotte fans would like to see Home Run and high-scoring games from the start of practice and exhibition games, but the offensive style, such as "base running that aims one or two steps ahead" and "offensive plays that utilize speed," is already showing promise for this season's offense.

　ロッテが2年連続2位に入った時は、相手投手に球数を投げさせ四球で出塁しバントや進塁打で走者を進め、1本の安打で得点、“1つ先を狙った走塁”で一、三塁、一塁から長駆ホームインといった相手の嫌がるような攻撃で得点を奪い、そのリードを投手陣が守り切るという形で勝利を積み重ねた。

In foreign games, "aiming one base ahead base running" shines: in a friendly game against the Czech national team on February 26, if Raito Ikeda 's center fielder backward fly out to first base with one out in the fifth inning of a 10-4 game runner ・Yuya Sakurai touches up at second base, in a practice game against the Korea Lotte team on March 1, In a practice game against Korea Lotte on March 1, Koki Yamaguchi touched up from first to second on Ryusei Miyazaki 's center fielder fly to left-center with one out in the 0-4 fifth inning and was brought back alive by Kyuto Ueda 's Home Run. Yamaguchi said, "We do this as a team, so yes," indicating that the awareness of "aiming for the first base" is spreading throughout the team.

In the game against Nippon-Ham on March 8, with the score 2-4 in the 5th inning with no outs and a runner on first Ryusei Terachi, Hiromi Oka, tagged up to second base. He then scored the third run on hit to center fielder field by Takabe.

The practice of tagging up from first base to second base has been repeated many times since the autumn practice held at Zozo Marine Stadium last October, with the runner on first base tagging up to second base on fly balls near the left-center wall, fly balls near center fielder wall, fly balls to the right of center fielder, and fly balls near the right wall.

"I also like to base running keep up with my opponent's gaps. "In a practice game against DeNA on Feb. 19, with no outs in the fifth inning of a 3-2 game, Kodai Inoue hit a wall direct hit to left short stop that was relayed home throw and saw hitter runner ∙ Inoue advance to third base. Inoue was brought back alive by Soto's right sacrifice fly.

In a friendly match against the Czech Republic on February 26, Ikeda came up to bat in the second inning with two outs and the bases bases loaded, leading 3-1. On the third strike thrown by left-handed pitcher Novak, a 136 km/h fastball, he hit it to center fielder field. While center fielder fielder threw to home throw, Ikeda, the hitter runner, advanced to second base.

On February 28 against Seibu Lions, with no outs in the first inning of a 0-0 game, Matsumoto threw the fifth fork pitch from 1 ball 2 strike to first base, which was starting while catcher ∙ Tsuge played it runner ∙ Takabe advanced to third base and came home on hit in front of Fujiwara's center fielder.

During his self-training in January of this year, Takabe said, "Mr. Saburo wants us to do plays that outsmart the opponent, such as bunting to get from first base to third base in one go, so this year we want to do more than what Mr. Saburo expects. Mr. Shinjo does a lot of those kinds of things, but I hope we can do even more than that." Although it wasn't a bunt, he did actually get from first base to third base in one go thanks to an opponent's mistake.

On March 4 against Rakuten Eagles, with two outs in the 1-0 6th inning, Soto's third pitch from 1 ball 1 strike, catcher saw cutter on the outside corner played by , and without slowing down, first baseman runner Kyota Fujiwara quickly advanced to third base. Soto came alive with a timely hit.

On March 11 against Orix Buffaloes, with no outs in the 3rd inning (0-1), Ryusei Ogawa bunted the first pitch fastball thrown by Shumpeita Yamashita in front of pitcher for a safety bunt. First base runner and Atsuki Tomosugi, which had made a good start, did not slow down and base running quickly fell on third base. Tomosugi came home on a wild pitch while Fujiwara was at bat.

I've only mentioned success stories, but of course, mistakes are happening too. Nevertheless, the awareness of "base running that takes advantage of the opponent's weaknesses" and "base running that aims one step ahead" is gradually spreading throughout the team, and even after the season starts, there's a feeling that they'll score runs with the kind of speed-based offense they had in 2020 and 2021.

◆ Scoring even without a hit

Being able to score a run with a no-hitter is also different from last year, and in the 0-3 fourth inning against Rakuten Eagles on February 21, Inoue led off the inning Walk and went to first base wild pitch during the next Hiromi Oka at bat runner ∙ Inoue went to second base. With no outs, Inoue advanced to third on Oka's unearned run, and he returned to third runner ⋅ during Polanco's double play, scoring a run on a no-hit bid.

In the game Seibu Lions on March 13th, with Walk 1-2 in the 7th inning, lead-off hitter Takabe drew a walk. On the first pitch to the next batter, Yuta Yudai Fujioka, Takabe stole second stolen base. On the second pitch, Fujioka laid down a sacrifice bunt in front of pitcher, and on Toshiya Sato 's ground ball to first base, Takabe, the runner on third, slid headfirst into home plate. Sato was ruled a fielder’s choice 's choice, and the team scored without a hit.

Although it was not a no-hitter, in the ninth inning of the Seibu Lions game on March 14, when the leadoff hitter Misho Nishikawa reached base with a Walk, pinch runner Koshiro Wada succeeded in stolen base second base on Oka's first pitch. catcher 's bad throw also overlapped and went to third base. After one out, Teraji squeeze pitcher forward on the second pitch from the first ball, and third baseman runner Wada stepped on the walk-off home plate.

Wada stolen base three bases in exhibition games so far. Until last year, he would start stolen base bases at his own timing, but when asked during the spring training camp in Miyakonojo if he felt like he could stolen base bases whenever the sign was given this season, he gave a strong response, saying, "When I get the go, I want to try to go for it on an early count."

They use their speed, advance runner with hits and bunts, and try to score a run. Even during live batting practice at the Miyakonojo spring training camp in February, they practiced bunting in situations with runner on base, and they have been diligently preparing for exhibition games. In a climate where pitching is dominant and hitting is weak, making it difficult to score a run, if they can score a run against a good pitcher and hold onto that lead in even one more game, they may be able to compete for the top spot.

Interview and text by Yuta Iwashita