◆ Pacific League: Nippon-Ham vs. Seibu Lions (17th, Escon Stadium)

Manager Fumiya Nishiguchi's tactics paid off perfectly, as Seibu Lions took the lead with a two-run homer by pinch hitter Junichiro Kishi, his first of the season.

In the seventh inning, trailing by one run, with two outs, leadoff hitter Canario got on base with doble the left field line, prompting manager Nishiguchi to make a big decision. He sent in pinch outfielder Junichiro Kishi for Nishikawa, who had been somewhat struggling with two consecutive hit games. Kishi swung at Uehara's first pitch, a 137 km/h fork on the outside corner, and the ball flew into the left field bullpen. "Canario had kept the rally going, so I just swung with the intention of getting the ball to the next batter," he said. The packed Seibu Lions fans erupted in cheers. Kishi's first home run of the season, a two-run shot, finally gave them the lead.

After that, with two outs and a runner on first base, cleanup hitter Nevin hit his seventh home run of the season, a two-run shot, for the second consecutive game, saying, "I was able to hit the ball hard when it came in a little too sweetly." The team scored four runs in that inning.

The team is in second place, 0.5 games behind the league Orix Buffaloes, and could move into first place as early as today, marking the first time in Nishiguchi's tenure that they have played 40 games, the first time in 1354 days since September 1, 2022 (when 122 games had been played).