◆ Pacific League: Orix Buffaloes vs. Nippon-Ham (20th, Kyocera Dome Osaka)

Orix Buffaloes manager Mamoru Kishida also breathed a sigh of relief. He stopped the team from suffering their worst losing streak of the season at six games and also ended their losing streak against Nippon-Ham at seven games. "It's been a long time... We finally got a win. It's really tough to get even one win right now," he confessed honestly.

"He really helped the team out during a tough time," said Kuri, who started the game on five days' rest and runs seven scoreless innings. Five of the team's seven wins have been victories that ended their losing streaks. After the game, they traveled to Fukuoka for a three-game series against league leaders Softbank Hawks starting on the 21st (at Mizuho PayPay Dome). They have returned to a .500 winning percentage in just one day, and promised to bounce back, saying, "Our next opponent is Softbank Hawks, but we will do our best. No matter who the opponent is, we have to win one game at a time to move up the standings."