◆ Pacific League Rakuten Eagles Softbank Hawks (August 2nd, Rakuten Eagles Mobile Saikyo Park Miyagi)

Softbank Hawks Hawks manager Hiroki Kokubo expressed his dissatisfaction with the scorekeeper's call. In the fourth inning with one out and runners on first and second base, Yuki Yanagita hit a hard ground ball towards first base, and while first baseman Kurokawa fumbled it, second runner Kensuke Kondo scored the first run. The call was recorded as an error. The manager stated, "I can't accept that Yanagita's hit was ruled an error. It was a sharp hit (a ball hit squarely on the sweet spot of the bat), the ground was wet (from the rain), and it had spin. Anyone could see it was a hit. I guess the reason it was ruled an error is because it was hit straight on, but if he had been half-turned (in his stance), it would have been treated as a hit. If that's the case, it would mean that it's acceptable not to stop the ball with your body from the start. I will be expressing various opinions at managers' meetings and so on. I want them to be more flexible."