◆ Pacific League Nippon-Ham 7-11 Softbank Hawks (December 12, ES CON FIELD)

Softbank Hawks 's guardian deity, Kazuki Sugiyama pitcher (28), will be out for a long time on the 12th due to a fracture in his left hand. After the Nippon-Ham game (Escon) on the 11th, he was frustrated with his own pitch and was injured by beating the bench. The team won 5 consecutive matches unscathed in the Nippon-Ham match in a heavy mood where the closer was canceled from the player registration. Taiga Kamichatani pitcher (29), who was in third place, pitched three innings without runs and scored a white star for the first time in 736 days, and the batting game also led to a season-high 17 hit and 11 runs.

The handyman right-hander saved the team from a crisis. The team won its first five straight games against its biggest rival Nippon-Ham since 2002, 24 years after the season opener. Kokubo said, "I can't say enough about Uechaya. There were only a limited number of pitcher available. He did a really good job." He praised his hero, who usually plays a low-profile role.

Before the game, the departure of closer Sugiyama was announced, and it was decided that set upper Yutaka Matsumoto would not be allowed to pitch to avoid consecutive pitches. In fact, among the 7 relievers, starter Haru Matsumoto was knocked out in the middle of the 3rd inning. In the face of a slugfest, the game ended with Kamichaya, who took the mound in 3rd place from the 4th inning. "Anyway, I wanted to bring a good flow to the batting lineup, and I thought I would go for 3 inning," he said, and runs the quota 3 innings were 2 Walk hit no. In the active draft in December 24, he marked his first white star after transferring from DeNA and 736 days.

The offense, which knocked out last season's ace right-hander Arihara in two consecutive games, continued to connect in the middle and later innings, racking up a season-high 17 hit 11 runs. Despite concerns about bullpen in the later innings, they managed to pull away from Nippon-Ham. With a strength that defied the unfortunate circumstances, they became the first team in the league to reach 10 wins. (Koichiro Shimao)