◆ Pacific League Nippon-Ham 3-5 Lotte (August 1st, ES CON FIELD)

Nippon-Ham suffered a come-from-behind loss against Lotte on the 1st (at Escon Stadium), ending their four-game winning streak. Their lead in the standings has fallen to 12 games.

Yuki Nomura (26) drove in his 49th RBI with sacrifice fly in the 4th inning with one out and runners on first and third, giving his team a temporary lead. "I had been causing trouble with defense, so I wanted to get a run back for Kato (Takashi)." In the 4th inning with no outs, he and center fielder Hosokawa hesitated while defense left field, allowing Yamaguchi to advance to third base on a hit to left-center field, and he made up for it in his next at-bat.