◆ Pacific League Rakuten Eagles Seibu Lions (23rd, Rakuten Eagles Mobile Saikyo Park Miyagi)

Seibu Lions 's first-round draft pick, catcher Taiga Kojima (22), shook off the heavy atmosphere with a single swing. In the bottom of the 11th inning, with extra inning tied 1-1 and two outs and a runner on second base, he watched Rakuten Eagles 's Nishigaki throw a fastball low and outside on the first pitch, but then made up his mind. "If it's a sweet pitch, I'll go for it." On the next pitch, he swung hard at a 143 km/h fork on the inside corner. The ball went straight into the right-field stands. After hitting a game-winning 8th home run of the season, a two-run shot, he smiled shyly and said, "I've always tried to be the kind of hitter who can make or break the game, so I'm glad I was able to do that today."

extra inning His clutch performance—uncommon for a rookie—really stands out. This is his sixth game-winning hit of the season. Home Run Four of his eight home runs have been walk-off homers, making him a key part of the lineup. At the same time, he still has a certain innocence about him.Regarding the home run hit by Tsuyoshi Nakamura in the 11th inning with two outs on the 21st bases loaded—marking the 23rd consecutive year Home Run of a bases loaded—he said, “I was getting ready when I saw it, and I heard ‘Wow!’ from the bench, so I jumped up and down with joy,” clearly over the moon.Manager Nishiguchi, impressed by the rookie’s outstanding presence, smiled and said, “He’s truly dependable.”

The team achieved its first three-game sweep against the same opponent since the end of the interleague series, slowly closing the gap to 5.5 games behind league leaders Softbank Hawks. They also widened the gap to 3 games behind third-place Nippon-Ham. "We're still fighting hard, so rather than looking up, our top priority is to win our own games," said Kojima. They have no intention of giving up yet. (Ayami Onaka)