◆パ・リーグ　ロッテ２―７日本ハム（８日・ＺＯＺＯマリン）

Nippon-Ham win from behind to defeat Lotte with their signature home run offense, bringing their win-loss record to 11 games above .500. Although still in third place, they are now tied with second-place Seibu Lions and three games behind first-place Softbank Hawks. Starting pitcher Takashi Kato earned his ninth win of the season, the most in the league, allowing only two runs through six innings.

After the game, manager Tsuyoshi Shinjo revealed his plan to convert Gunji outfield. In the previous day's game against the same defense, Gunji committed his 10th error of the season at third base, and Shinjo said, "It wasn't a difficult hit. We need to think about the third base issue." On this day, he starting line-up Nomura at third base. "For now, we'll have Nomura at third base. Gunji has a spring in his glove (laughs). I'll have him work on removing that and let him play in outfield for a while. Let's change the scenery and remove the spring (laughs)," he said, joking as he revealed his idea to temporarily convert Gunji, who had made mistakes at third defense, to outfield.

During pre-game practice that day, there were moments when he was seen communicating with Gunji with a smile, saying, "He seemed to have let go of something during batting practice today. He was batting really well, so I told him, 'You were batting well,' and we talked about his glove. I asked him if it was his glove that was the problem, not defense. I suggested, 'Maybe you should change your glove.'" It was a loving exchange, and he expressed his hope for the recovery of number 3.