◆Nippon Life Interleague Series 2026: Nippon-Ham 3-0 The Giants (31st, ES CON FIELD)

Nippon-Ham secured a decisive victory against The Giants with a strong performance from both pitchers and hitters, ending their two-game losing streak. Starting pitcher Koki Kitayama (27) pitched six runs innings, allowing only three hit and five Hit by Pitch, earning his fourth win of the season. In his previous start on the 24th against Softbank Hawks (at Mizuho PayPay Dome), he was pulled after four innings having given up six runs, so this careful pitch was a great way to redeem himself. On the victory platform, he shouted "Saikoki!" (It's the best!) for the first time this season. He had refrained from using the phrase at one point, but he plans to use it more often this season.

After sorting out the situation, Kitayama calmly faced hitter. In the sixth inning, a consecutive Walk brought in a one-out, runners-on-second crisis. He got Cabbage to struck out swinging at fork, then hit Nakayama to fly out to shortstop at 150 km/h. He threw 3 hit 5 Hit by Pitch over 6 innings, scoring no runs for his fourth win of the season. "There were inning with a poor tempo, but for now, we were able to closer at zero, so that was good," he reflected.

All I wanted was to closer to zero. In his previous appearance on the 24th, he received 4 runs of support in the first inning on Nomura's bases loaded homer but was pulled after 6 runs in the 4th inning. Furthermore, this was a match where the team faced consecutive losses. "You look for content after the results are achieved. The most important thing is not to score points. Today, I focused solely on that and thought it was okay to put out any runner." Although his control was unstable and he often had to carry the runner, he remained calm and carefully pitching, never letting the ball hit home plate.

On the victory platform, responding to Gunji's prompting, Kitayama delivered his signature phrase for the first time this season, saying, "Today the roof is open, and the team won, so it's the best!" Manager Shinjo gave him some feedback, saying, "You need to throw inside to right-handed batters," but Kitayama accepted it as a "long-term challenge." While focusing on immediate win, he will also confront the challenges necessary for his growth. (Yasushi Yamaguchi)