"It's not exactly the same, but I've had a similar experience, so I spoke to him to try and lift his spirits even just a little." Orix Buffaloes pitcher Anderson Espinoza showed compassion to his junior teammate, pitcher Kazuma Sato, who gave up four consecutive Home Run in the previous night's game against Nippon-Ham (ES CON FIELD).

It was the afternoon of July 3rd, at the Hotto Motto Field Kobe in Suma Ward, Kobe City, in the first base side locker room. Sato Ichi, who had traveled to the stadium from Hokkaido that day and had just finished his self-training before the game against Seibu Lions, was approached quietly by Espinosa, who was holding a cell phone, and spoke to him.

"Someone said something to me in Spanish, but my phone's translation wasn't working properly. I didn't understand what they meant, but I got the message. I was happy," recalls Sato Ichi, who was promoted back to the first team and got his first start of the season, but gave up four consecutive Home Run to the first four hitter and was pulled from the game without recording a single out.

Espinoza was not with the team because he was scheduled to start in the game against Seibu Lions the following day, and that was the first time he had seen Sato Ichi after he had given up the home runs. "I thought he must be pretty frustrated (after the four consecutive home runs). I told him, 'That wasn't your true self. You can pitch much better when you're your true self.'"

There was something I wanted to say. "I also had several times when I returned to pitching after Tommy John (TJ) surgery, where I couldn't get any strike at all, walk and walk, and had to take mound out after one inning. At those times, I blamed myself and could only think about myself. I thought maybe he felt the same way." I learned that it's important to accept the outcome as the outcome, return to your true self, and look forward. "If you keep blaming yourself, you'll never get out of a big 'hole,'" says Espinoza. Since the assigned interpreter Yohei Araki was not near the locker, he used the translation function on his mobile phone, but he wanted to convey his feelings to Hajime Sato that quickly.

Espinoza, originally from Venezuela, is in his third year in Japan. He loves Japanese culture and is such a Japanophile that he has the kanji character for "gratitude," his "favorite word," tattooed on him, and named his eldest son, born this year, "Kenzo." He is a kind-hearted helper who has offered words of encouragement to Sato Ichi during his youth development days. Even though they couldn't communicate through words, Sato Ichi understood his feelings perfectly.

Interview and text by Masaki Kitano