◆ Pacific League Nippon-Ham 3X-2 Rakuten Eagles (July 7th, ES CON FIELD)

Rakuten Eagles failed to hold on in the final innings, suffering a walk walk-off off loss in the first game of the series. Their record is now 37 wins, 59 losses, and 1 tie, and their deficit has ballooned to 22 games, tying their highest of the season.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, with the score tied 2-2, fifth pitcher Nakagomi found himself in a jam with runners on first and second with one out. He allowed a single to right hit to Yazawa, but runner on second, Arizono, stopped at third. However, Muto, who had entered the game as a right fielder, bad throw to home plate. The ball floated high and went far over catcher 's head, and walk-off saw it and scored the winning run.

After the game, manager Yoshii had a stern defense said, "If he keeps doing things like that in situations like that, he won't be able to play in games. There's nothing we can do about it today. I want him to practice hard so that this doesn't happen again."