◆Nippon Life Interleague Series 2026 Yakult 1-3 Nippon-Ham (11 extra inning) (May 5th, Jingu Stadium)

Nippon-Ham defeated the Central League League leaders Yakult in extra inning innings, bringing their winning percentage back to .500. In the 11th inning, extra inning 1-1, Mizuno hit a game-winning solo home run to right field off Yakult 's Kihada. Manami then hit an RBI single to extend the lead, and Yamamoto closed out the bottom of the inning without runs a run. Nippon Ham was the only team Pacific League win that day, narrowing the gap with third-place Orix Buffaloes to 2.5 games.

After the game, manager Shinjo appeared, still visibly excited, and said, "Is there a rule that games at Jingu Stadium have to be like this? (laughs). This is fun." In the interleague games of 2022, his first year as manager, the team suffered two consecutive walk-off losses at Jingu Stadium, but win the third game by scoring four runs in the 10th inning of extra inning. He savored this victory at Jingu Stadium, a place known for its dramatic developments.

In the 1-1 extra inning 10th inning, Hori and Yanagawa got out of a pinch with no outs bases loaded and said, "Yanagawa-kun did a good job of getting us out of that desperate pinch. I sent him off with the feeling that we were going to lose or struck out lose. He had failed to make a save in Hiroshima, so I felt he would do something. mound I couldn't let him go to the next inning with that kind of tension. In a walk-off situation with one hit, guardian god Yanagawa was brought in and led to closer and win with zero hits.

In the 11th inning extra inning, Yamamoto held the opponent runs closer his first save of the season. With no outs and a runner on first, he gave up a towering Home Run ball to Takeoka to right-center field that nearly tied the game, but he said, "Yamamoto threw a good ball too. I thought it was going to be a home run (Takeoka's fly ball). The wind sucked it in. It just went 'whoosh' (laughs). It sucked it in. It sucked it in. Ah, today was fun." With the headwind and the manager's "attraction" working in his favor, he secured a valuable victory.

The previous day, on the 4th, they won a hard-fought 12-inning game against Hiroshima at Mazda Stadium, which was extra inning by rain and lasted 4 hours and 51 minutes. On this day, they traveled to Tokyo by Shinkansen, a journey of about 4 hours. It was a victory after a tough travel game. "You did a great job playing for a little over 5 hours and winning a game while traveling. You have a day game tomorrow, so get some good rest," he said, praising his players.