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

Nippon-Ham In the 8th inning, with two outs (bases loaded), pinch hitter Reyes tied the game with an RBI single down the left-field line (doble). Then, in the 9th inning, with one out and runners on first and second, Yazawa’s single to right field—combined with an error by the opposing team (walk-off)—secured the win. The team moved up to second place.

Yoshida, who was promoted to the first team that day and used as the cleanup hitter and designated hitter, went 3 At Bat 3 with one hit Hit by Pitch, reaching base in every at-bat. "My style is to go for it from the first pitch, and that worked out well in the end," he reflected.

Manager Shinjo, who removed the player from the roster after he was substituted out for base running, said, "I've been sad until today. When he was doing well, something like that happened... I really didn't want to drop him. I told him that and we decided to keep him in the cleanup spot. He easily (laughs), hit three singles to center fielder. I wonder where I should use him next. It was a really good hit, I was happy."

On July 25th, in a game Rakuten Eagles (at Escon Stadium), Yoshida hit a ball down the right field line but failed to slide into second base, resulting in him being tagged out. Manager Shinjo substituted him out as punishment, saying, "If he had slid, he would have definitely been safe." He was removed from the roster the following day.