◆ Manaka: "I'm not good at defense, so one strategy is to leave the difficult parts to others."

Nippon-Ham 's Koki Kitayama started on the mound against Lotte on the 7th. He gave up bases loaded slam and a solo Home Run in the 3rd inning, and committed two errors while fielding bunts in the 4th inning. He was removed from the game after 3 1/3 innings, 60 pitches, 3 hit, 3 strike out 2 walks/hit Hit by Pitch, and 8 runs allowed (3 earned).

Kitayama suffered his first loss since April 25th. On the Fuji TV ONE program "Pro baseball News 2026" broadcast on the 7th, MC Manaka Mitsuru reflected, "He hadn't lost in a while, but today, partly due to his own errors, he gave up 8 runs..." Commentator Saito Akio analyzed, "The pitches themselves weren't bad, they were just a little high, but I felt it was probably due to the handling of the bunt." Regarding the errors, he pointed out, "(For the first error) he got overtaken by the batted ball and threw in a panic. After that (for the second error), he was thinking about runner 's speed, and I think he was too focused on throwing before catching the ball, resulting in two errors. It's a shame."

Manaka said, "I think one strategy is to encourage third baseman to be more proactive. Kitayama isn't particularly good at defense, so it might be a good strategy to leave difficult situations to him."

☆ Cooperation: Fuji TV ONE "Professional baseball News 2026"