◆JERA Central League Yakult 2-8 The Giants (15th, Jingu Stadium)

The "H" lamp lit up. Yakult catcher Taijiro Yano got his first professional hit. "I was just trying to go for it, and it was the result of that. It wasn't a perfectly hit ball, but I'm glad it was hit," he said with a smile.

He joined the team in 2024 as the 5th pick in the draft from Ehime of the Shikoku Island League, and this is his second season. He was promoted to the first team for the first time on June 30, and this was his third appearance. He took over as defense in the 8th inning in place of Nakamura Yu, and in his first at-bat with two outs in the 8th inning, he hit a hard hit to third baseman for a single. "I was so desperate that I wasn't really watching the ball, but I was running as hard as I could to get on base, and that hit was the result, so I'm glad," he reflected.

As catcher, he doesn't get many opportunities to play due to the presence of Yu Nakamura and Yuhei Koga, but he declared, "Right now, all I can do is work hard. First of all, I want to make sure I don't lose to Koga-san or Yuhei Nakamura, and then I want to play in more games and increase hit." He said he will give the ball he gets as a memento of his first hit to his family.