◆ Pacific League Nippon-Ham 0-1 Seibu Lions (11th, ES CON FIELD)

Nippon-Ham lost the battle for second place and dropped to third. The gap between them and first-place Softbank Hawks widened to 8.5 games.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, with defense still 0-0, starting pitcher Ito allowed a single to Yamamura, the leadoff batter, and pinch runner Takamatsu immediately stole second base. This led to bad throw by catcher Tamiya, putting a runner on third with no outs. Ito managed to get Canario to ground out to the shortstop, making it one out with a runner on third, but then he allowed a go-ahead RBI single to Takizawa, and Ito was taken off mound.

Starter Ito allowed Kojima a Walk with two outs in the first inning but swung Nevin struck out. From the second inning onward, he recorded struck out every inning through the fifth, and closer empty hit through the sixth. In the seventh inning, he gave up Nevin's first hit to a doble to left-center field, leaving the game one out with runners on first and second, but Ishii and Nakamura struck out consecutively. He kept 0 innings through seven innings, but during the eighth, he pitched 3 hit 1 runs (0 earned runs) and 10 strike out for his seventh loss of the season.

The lineup wanted to support the ace pitching well, but couldn't break through Seibu Lions starter Taira. In the first inning, with a leadoff Mizuno Hit by Pitch, they got one out and runners on second, but Mannami and Reyes went down to struck out in a row. They went hit through five innings, but in the sixth, leadoff hitter Igoman reached base with a hit to center field, marking the team's first hit. Mizuno's sacrifice bunt and Hosokawa's fly out to center advanced to third, but Mannami was grounded out to second, and the tie was not broken.