◆ Pacific League Softbank Hawks 7-1 Orix Buffaloes (22nd, Mizuho PayPay Dome)

Orix Buffaloes ・ Kazuma Sato pitcher pitched a scoreless inning in his comeback appearance. He took the mound in the 8th inning with his team trailing by 6 runs and started by getting Kondo to take a called strike struck out. “I just wanted to get that first out,” he admitted honestly.

He started in the July 2 game against the Nippon-Ham (ES CON FIELD) and gave up four consecutive home runs to the first four batters he faced in the first inning. He suffered the first such humiliation in the history of the baseball. Although Kurihara walked a batter, he got Yanagita to fly out to center field and induced a swinging strikeout struck out from Yu Yamamoto.

The 25-year-old left-hander, who joined the team in the same year as ace Miyagi as the first pick in the 2019 developmental draft, is now in his seventh year with the team. "I really have to work hard in each game, each inning, to regain trust," he said with a determined expression, and manager Mamoru Kishida also expressed his hopes for a comeback, saying, "He gave up Walk, but he closer them off after that. I hope he can continue this."