◆Nippon Life Interleague Series 2026 Chunichi 1X-0 Seibu Lions (May 5th, Vantelin Dome)

Seibu Lions suffered their first walk-off defeat of the season in a tense pitcher match against Chunichi. Starting pitcher Mitsunari Takahashi pitcher pitched 9 innings and runs 1, but couldn't secure his 7th win. "I'm frustrated because I lost," he said, slumping his shoulders.

In the first inning, with one out and a runner on first, he got Muramatsu to hit into a double play play, ending the inning with just three bases loaded. In the third inning, he faced a bases-loaded situation with one out, but he got Fukunaga to ground out to third base with a 135 km/h sweeper and Muramatsu to fly out to center field with a 153 km/h fastball, escaping the jam without giving up any runs.

In the seventh inning, he allowed a single to Hosokawa, the leadoff hit, but closer down the subsequent batters.

He had thrown over 100 pitches by the end of the eighth inning, but since “I still had plenty of energy left,” he volunteered to pitch the ninth as well, heading to mound.However, after walking leadoff batter Fukunaga Walk to put runners on first and second with two outs, he gave up a hit walk-off to pinch hitter Abe. “After all, a leadoff walk tends to lead to runs, so that’s a game I’ll regret,” the right-hander said, biting his lip. It was his first walk-off loss since turning pro.“I realized just how frustrating this can be. I learned the weight of every single pitch today, so in that sense it was a good experience, and I think that as I continue as a starter, I’ll be able to throw higher-quality pitches one by one. baseball Looking at it from a broader perspective, I’m glad I had this experience. It will lead to my future baseball career,” he vowed to use his frustration as fuel for further growth.