The 15th game between Hokkaido Nippon-Ham and Chiba Lotte Marines will be held at ES CON FIELD on August 1st at 2 PM.

[Head-to-head record] Hokkaido Nippon-Ham (2nd place) vs. Chiba Lotte Marines (5th place): 9 wins, 5 losses

[Announced Starting Pitcher]
Hokkaido Nippon-Ham: Takayuki Kato pitcher 15 games, 10 wins (1st place), 1 loss, ERA 2.66
Chiba Lotte Marines: Long pitcher 21 games, 1 win, 4 losses, ERA 4.17

Hokkaido Nippon-Ham will have pitcher Takayuki Kato who is currently on an eight-game win streak, on the mound. He has reached double-digit win for the first time in two years by the end of the first half of the season and is leading the league in wins. Can he extend his winning streak even further? In the batting lineup, Tatsuki Mizuno recorded two hit three RBI in the previous game. He had a good batting average of .291 at the end of the first half of the season and will be looking to maintain his good form in the second half.

Chiba Lotte Marines will start with a long-range pitcher. In July, he earned his first win in Japan on the 4th against Fukuoka Softbank with 7 scoreless runs, but in the two games since then, he has suffered lose, giving up 6 runs in 5 innings and 3 runs in 6 innings. He will be looking to deliver a good performance and secure his first win in about a month. In the batting lineup, Misho Nishikawa recorded two hit in the previous game.

Written by Aoi Nishijima