◆ Pacific League Seibu Lions 2-1 Lotte (14th, Belluna Dome)

Fueled by the excitement of his home stadium, Seibu Lions pitcher Kaima Taira (26) delivered a passionate performance, allowing seven hit and no runs over six innings to earn his seventh win. Having completed four innings, he once again reached the required innings pitched pitched, and ERA rose to an astonishing 0.92, making him the undisputed league leader. The right-hander modestly said, "I'm not that concerned about (ERA)," but there is now a possibility that he could break the Pacific League record of 1.06 ERA set in 1956 by Kazuhisa Inao, a legend who played for the team's predecessor, Nishitetsu.

In the first inning, he gave Walk to leadoff and with a wild pitch himself, putting runners on second with no outs, but cut off the next runners. In the third inning, he faced consecutive pressures: one out and a runner on third and sixth, one out, runners on first and second, but he closed the key point with a data-based pitch, saying, "I carefully watch the pitch distribution and which pitches don't swing at the first pitch."

He was unfazed by the heat. After completing a long road trip totaling 6,000 kilometers from Fukuoka to Hyogo to Osaka to Okinawa to Hokkaido, he returned to his home stadium, Belluna Dome for the first time in about two weeks for this game. The stadium, with its shape that easily traps humidity, can turn into a sauna in the summer. On this day, at 2 PM when pre-game practice began, some thermometers were showing 38 degrees Celsius. However, for the right-handed pitcher, who hails from Ishigaki Island in tropical Okinawa and whose last appearance was against Rakuten Eagles in Naha on the 7th, this level of heat was "no problem." Even as he was sweating profusely, he pitched calmly and without changing his expression.

The team secured its first winning streak of July, remaining three games behind league leaders Softbank Hawks. With 57 games remaining in the season, they will unite and fight to experience the ultimate thrill at the very end. (Ayami Onaka)

Record Memo: Taira (Nishi) pitched 6 innings, 7 hit, no runs, marking his 7th win of the season. He marked his seventh no-runs game this season, half of his 14 appearances. Including the predecessor team, Seibu Lions pitcher has recorded 7 no-runs as a starter by July, marking the second time in 65 years since Kazuhisa Inao in 1961. ERA is the top (above the regulation) in the Pacific League with a .92 (above the standard). Previously, in the first league, Hideo Fujimoto (Giants) in 1943 had a 0.73 BAT, and in the Central League, Minoru Murayama (Shin) in 1970 had 0.98, both of which were ERA in the 0.00s, but in the Pacific League, Kazuhisa Inao (Nishitetsu) in 1956 recorded 1.06. If the team maintains a 0.00 rating until the end of the season, it will be a first time in the Pacific League.