◆ Pacific League Orix Buffaloes 1-3 Rakuten Eagles (June 6th, Kyocera Dome Osaka)

Orix Buffaloes Manager Mamoru Kishida (45) took his hat off with a bold gesture. "The course, height, pace, and the strength of his fastball. He even struck the curveball from a 2-0 lead in (count). He kept up until that age, and I think that's an impressive pitch." Rakuten Eagles ・Kishi gave up 2 hit and 1 run closer, and with runners on first and third and one out, Yamanaka sacrifice fly the best he could manage to get in is a run. Against the 41-year-old right-hander, he has lost two games this season, missing out on a three-game winning streak against the same series for the first time in two months.

With their 100th game of the season, they’ve slipped back to a .500 winning percentage.While it was a painful loss to the last-place team, the silver lining was that starting pitcher Tajima showed signs of a comeback. He gave up a two-run homer to McCusker with two outs and a runner on first in the first inning, among other hits, and suffered his fifth loss after pitching five innings with a 3 runs, but his fastball topped out at 148 km/h.Although he hasn’t won a game since May 30 against the Chunichi (at Kyocera D), the manager gave him a passing grade, saying, “He’s throwing with good mechanics, and he can actually hit that kind of speed with his fastball. I think his pitches were good.”

They are in fourth place, six games behind third-place Nippon-Ham who are in a playoff spot. Manager Kishida said, "If our pitching and hitting come together properly, we can definitely go on a winning streak. We'll do our best again," shifting his focus. (Shunta Nanbu)