◆ Pacific League Nippon-Ham 0-6 Rakuten Eagles (August 8, ES CON FIELD)

Nippon-Ham was dominated throughout the game, and their winning streak came to an end at two. This brings their record for the second half of the season to 4 wins and 4 losses.

In the first inning, starting pitcher Takashi Kato found himself in a jam with the bases loaded. He managed to get Murabayashi to hit into a double double play, but Rakuten Eagles challenged the call at first base. The call was overturned, and Rakuten gave up the first run.

Takashi Kato was hit hard again in the second inning, giving up another run on three consecutive hits by Ota, Muneyama, and Nakajima. He managed to hold off the subsequent batters, but he fell behind by two runs early in the game.

The batting lineup Rakuten Eagles was unable to get the better of starting pitcher Hayakawa. In the third inning, with two outs and runners on first and third, Manami swung and missed struck out. Even in the sixth inning, when lead-off batter Mizuno reached base with a single to center field, the next batter, Manami, grounded out to third double play, and the team was unable to get the better of the opposing left-hander.

In the seventh defense, with one out and a runner on first, Manami misplayed Nakajima's single to right hit, giving up a third run. With one out and a runner on third, Kato Takashi handed mound over to Uehara. However, Uehara allowed three consecutive hits to YG's Yasuda, Tatsumi, and McCusker, resulting in a total of four runs scored in the inning. They fell far behind.

Takashi Kato gave up 8 hit 4 runs (2 earned) in the middle of the 7th inning. He had been undefeated since May, but his winning streak came to an end at 8 games, and he suffered his second loss of the season.