◆ Pacific League Softbank Hawks 6X-5 Lotte (August 8, Mizuho PayPay Dome)

Softbank Hawks Sugiyama returned to pitching after about a month with a runs pitching one inning. He entered the mound in the 7th inning, trailing by two runs. He gave a consecutive Walk from one death, but with no hit, he strike out. He recorded a top speed of 155 km/h. "I decided to do my best (to mound) and went up," he exhaled.

On April 11th, in a game against Nippon-Ham (at Escon Stadium), he was dissatisfied with his own pitch and punched the dugout, fracturing his left hand. He returned with a grim determination, saying, "If I can't do it, I'll quit." On this day, he was used when his team was behind. Manager Kokubo explained, "(Does that mean he earned the closer role himself?) That's right." From now on, he has no choice but to accumulate results and reclaim the closer position.

The team overturned a two-run deficit in the ninth inning to secure their first walk-off victory of the season. The manager expressed confidence, saying, "We've been struggling to find our rhythm in recent games, but we want to use today's win as a springboard to close the gap on league leaders Orix Buffaloes." (Tosei Moriguchi)