◆ Pacific League Rakuten Eagles Orix Buffaloes (16th, Rakuten Eagles Mobile Saikyo Park Miyagi)

It was a crushing defeat from which it was hard to find any positives. “The problem is that our pitching and hitting just aren’t clicking. Things like that happen, though…” With a season-worst-tying 12-runs, the team suffered its third straight loss to last-place Rakuten Eagles. Manager Kishida Orix Buffaloes acknowledged the team’s difficult situation.

In the sixth inning, with a two-run lead, Iwasaki hit a go-ahead bases loaded homer. On the 15th, Yamazaki threw 32 pitches in a inning crossover, and after pitching back-to-back, he also runs two in the seventh. Manager Kishida praised the fielder lineup, saying, "They are scoring well." They scored 8 runs in 13 hit, surpassing Rakuten Eagles 's 11 hit, but also made painful base running errors.

In the 8th inning, after consecutive Walk put runners on first and second with no outs, Yamanaka hit a long drive to right-center field. Substitute right fielder Muto faked a catch, making it look like he could catch a ball that he couldn't. "I was watching the right fielder's movements too much. I stopped the momentum, and I feel responsible," said Noguchi, the runner on second base, who was fooled by the movement and stopped at third base.

With no outs bases loaded, the team ultimately managed only one run on Nishikawa’s double play, and immediately afterward came the decisive 3 runs. Matsui outfield defense base running Coach also emphasized, “That was a hit that could have reached home plate. We’ll work on improving our accuracy starting in practice,” and it was clear that the momentum for a comeback had been completely dashed.

They allowed Home Run to their opponent Tatsumi in three consecutive games, and he had a field day with 9 hit in 13 At Bat. They lost all six games at Rakuten Eagles Mobile's home field since the start of the season. The gap with first-place Softbank Hawks has widened to a record nine games, and fifth-place Lotte has once again closed in to just one game. Their lead, which was once as high as 10 games, has shrunk to just one for the first time in three months, and manager Kishida is desperate to turn things around, saying, "We're really just thinking about winning one game at a time." The whole team has to work together to stop this slump. (Toru Nagata)