◆Exhibition game: Nippon-Ham vs. Yakult (20th, ES CON FIELD)

Nippon-Ham pitcher Kota Tatsu made a perfect final appearance of the preseason, pitching four scoreless innings, runs only one hit, and strike out three. He is now ready to start the third game of the season (on the 29th against Softbank Hawks) and has achieved his goal of 16 wins this season, the same as number.

In the first inning, Nagaoka led off the inning with a 155 km/h straight line struck out, his fastest of the day, and he retired the next three batters. In the second inning, an error and hit put runners on first and second with one out, but he got Kitamura to ground out double play to end the inning runs with a no-decision.

He retired the side in order three or four times, showing no signs of trouble. "I think it went well. My fastball had good power, and I was able to throw breaking ball to roughly where I wanted them to go," he reflected.

Tatsu has now pitched 21 2/3 innings in six games, including a practice game in February and an appearance in an educational league. runs I'm worried that the fact that we haven't been scored on will mean that we won't lose our footing when the season starts and I hope we can make the transition. That's the only thing I'm worried about.

When asked about his goals for this season, he smiled bitterly and said, "I've been in a daze so far," but do you like 16?　It's easy to write (laughs). number the same 16."