◆ Pacific League Nippon-Ham 1-0 Rakuten Eagles (September 9th, ES CON FIELD)

Nippon-Ham broke the deadlock with a rare "Shinjo Special" and won pitcher duel.

Starting pitcher Arihara found himself in a jam in the first inning with runners on first and second after allowing consecutive hits with one out, but he managed to cut off the threat runs. After reaching his 1,000th career strike out in the third inning, he induced a groundout to shortstop from Murabayashi in the fourth double play, and in the fifth, despite allowing struck out double play and runner, he persevered to keep the scoreboard at “0.”

The batting lineup wanted to provide support, but Rakuten Eagles starting pitcher Koga held them to a perfect game through six innings closer.However, in the seventh inning, leadoff hitter Iihata reached base with a single to right field—the team’s first hit of the game hit. When Mizuno followed with a bunt that rolled in front of third base, Iihata—who had already broken for second—didn’t slow down at all as he rounded second and sprinted straight to third base.At that moment, Manami hit an RBI single defense that dropped behind the infielders second base, infield hit, securing a valuable first run.

Arihara pitched a complete game, allowing only six hit and no runs, while striking out 11 strike out. This was his second consecutive shutout game, earning him his fourth win of the season.