◆ Pacific League Nippon-Ham 1-7 Softbank Hawks (18th, ES CON FIELD)

Nippon-Ham suffered a crushing defeat as their starting pitcher, Ito, gave up five runs in three innings. Their record against Softbank Hawks this season is now 3 wins and 15 losses.

In the third inning, immediately after Reyes' 26th home run of the season tied the game at 1-1, Ito ran into trouble. Consecutive hits by Masaki and Shuto put runners on first and second with no outs, and Kondo hit a two-run doble to right-center field, giving the opposing team the lead.

With one out, Yanagida hit a timely doble the right field line. A fielding error by Narama put runners on first and third with one out, and Kawase hit sacrifice fly to right field, allowing four runs to score in one inning.

Ito was taken out of the game after this inning, having given up 7 hit 5 runs (4 earned) in 3 innings, resulting in his 8th loss of the season. This marks his 8th consecutive start without a win and his 5th consecutive loss. The team has also lost all of the last 8 games in which Ito has started.

The relief pitchers also allowed runs to score in small increments, and the offense was closer to just two hit and one run through six innings by Softbank Hawks 's starting pitcher, Moinelo.

This means they haven't won a Tuesday since July, making it five consecutive losses. They also lost the first match in Wednesday-start series, and continue to struggle to gain momentum by failing to start the week strong.