Pacific League: Orix Buffaloes 1-5 Rakuten Eagles (25th, Kyocera Dome Osaka)

Orix Buffaloes manager Mamoru Kishida (45) couldn't help but let his true feelings slip. "Today's loss is painful, though..." After suffering a come-from-behind loss to the last-place Rakuten Eagles, the possibility of reaching the Climax Series (CS) on their own merit was eliminated in their 115th game of the season. In his second year in charge, he faced a harsh reality, tying a worst with a deficit of three games below .500.

Starting pitcher Kuri pitched brilliantly, holding the opponent runs through five innings. However, in the sixth inning, with the score 1-0, he gave up two doble and three Walk, allowing the opposing team to take the lead and resulting in a disappointing knockout. He suffered his ninth loss, giving up four runs in 5 1/3 innings, and reflected, "I can only say I'm sorry that I couldn't closer." The manager pointed out, "If he had managed to get through that inning, we could have secured the win... Perhaps he hesitated a little after giving up Walk."

The lineup took the lead in the first inning with back-to-back triples from Mune and Kita starting from the leadoff spot, but they were scoreless after that. They conceded the first professional win to Rakuten Eagles' Tatsuki Ito. With 28 games remaining, they are in fourth place, 6.5 games behind third-place Nippon-Ham. Although it was a painful loss, he desperately looked forward, saying, "We have no choice but to win now. You can't run away from this reality in professional baseball. We just have to take it one game at a time." (Shunta Nambu)