◆パ・リーグ　オリックス０―３日本ハム（９日・京セラドーム大阪）

Nippon-Ham defeated Orix Buffaloes 3-0, ending their seven-game losing streak at Kyocera Dome. Starting pitcher Takayuki Kato (33) earned his fourth win of the season with eight hit runs, allowing only three hits. He didn't throw a single ball and pitch efficiently, throwing just 90 pitches over eight innings.

Manager Shinjo analyzed that the reason for Orix Buffaloes 's good pitching was that they lined up eight left-handed hitter against left-handed pitcher Takashi Kato, against whom Kato had a batting average of .339 before the game. "Last year or the year before, when we were pitching against Softbank Hawks (left-handed pitcher) Ozeki, we lined up all right-handed batters. Then Ito said to me, 'When you line up all right-handed batters, you can draw a line and it's easier to get them out,' so since then we've stopped putting all right-handed batters in starting line-up. And today, they lined up all left-handed batters, so I think they were able to draw a line and it was easier to get them out. That's probably why we got this result. It was a nice pitching performance." Citing a comment from ace right-hander Ito, he explained his thinking that the bias in the left-right hitter made it easier to control the game.

Takashi Kato, facing an opposing lineup of eight left-handed hitter, said, "I was surprised, but what I do doesn't change much. I think my control didn't waver much today, and my style is to let them hit the ball and get outs," indicating that his renowned control was in top form.

Takashi Kato threw 90 pitches over eight innings. He was in a position to aim for his second career Maddux (a complete win shutout game with fewer than 100 pitches), but he was taken out of the game in the eighth inning. The manager said, "Yanagawa hadn't pitched at all. I felt bad for Kato, but I thought we should let Yanagawa go first." He explained that he prioritized giving the closer, who hadn't had a chance to pitch since the game Seibu Lions on April 30th (Belluna Dome), the opportunity to take mound.