◆ Pacific League Rakuten Eagles 4-0 Orix Buffaloes (12th, Rakuten Eagles Mobile)

Orix Buffaloes ・Soichiro Yamazaki pitcher (27) showed a good pitch to reorganize the partition. 0-1 in the 7th inning, 1 complete pitch in 2nd place. From the second out, he measured the fastest 154 km of the day on the second pitch to Kogo, and from count 2-2, he took a swing struck out with the middle ball "Forche" of fork and change-up at the end. "I was out in a good mood, and the feeling was good," he said, deepening his confidence.

He pitched his team-leading seventh game on the day, allowing a final three runs to Nomura in a game against Nippon-Ham on the 4th (ESCON) and a pushout Walk against Lotte on the 7th and 9th (Kyocera D), both after moving up from bases loaded to mound. But he didn't let his core strength waver. He said, "I'm not in bad shape, so the only thing I need to change is the way I put together my pitch distribution. He changed his mind and did his job with 10 pitches.

After 25 years of struggling to solidify his pitching form, he confidently declared this season, his tenth year, "I have absolutely no doubts." He even overcame days of throwing over 200 pitches a day in a net, using a yellow basket as a strike zone. Although the team suffered shutout game loss and their winning record was wiped out, he emphasized, "reliever pitcher, the more games you pitch, the better. I want to keep earning their trust." Soichiro in his 26th year is a different person. (Shunta Nanbu)