Lotte's Akira Yagi pitched in the Nippon-Ham game on the 29th, starting from the sixth inning with a two-run deficit and closer two innings without runs.

Yagi pitched in the 6th inning with a score of 7-9, and in the first inning of the sixth, he comfortably retired the hitter three batters with just 12 pitches. In the seventh inning of the second inning, he got Reyes grounded out to shortstop and was carried to left field by Yuki Nomura, but he got Naoki Arizono and Yuma Imagawa to struck out consecutive innings, threw 35 pitches over two innings, allowing one hit, two strike out, and closer runs nothing. Although the team lost, he delivered a brilliant performance as a reliever.

Yagi is having a breakout season in his fifth year, using his two seam fastball as a weapon. In August, he pitched in consecutive games against the Softbank Hawks on the 26th and 27th and threw two innings against Nippon-Ham on the 29th, but after the game against Nippon-Ham on the 1st, many of his appearances had long intervals, such as the game against the Orix Buffaloes on the 9th and the Rakuten Eagles on the 19th.

"I've been throwing in the bullpen, doing things like covering for the starting pitchers. I've also been throwing on the slope, so I think I'll be fine in that regard."

Even as the August games began, he continues to demonstrate the effectiveness of his two seam fastball, saying, "It’s really good." He remains confident, noting, "There are many times when it drifts a bit inside. Because it’s moving, I can get batters out or they might get ground ball hits, but I feel like it’s fine even if it goes a bit inside."

Although he had often mentioned his body opening up as a negative side effect of throwing a two seam fastball, there is no need for concern as he said, "I am still maintaining the feeling of always being conscious of my left hand and throwing with a closed posture."

He is throwing pitches he is satisfied with, noting that his fastball is also "feeling better, and it reached 150 km/h in the outing on the 26th, so the velocity is there. The ball isn't bad at all."

The forkballs also had a good drop in the August 9th game against the Orix Buffaloes, where he earned his 9th win: the 139 km/h fork on the 4th pitch that struck out Ryoma Yamanaka swinging with one out and no runners in the 6th inning with the score tied 2-2, and the 141 km/h fork that struck out Ryoma Nishikawa swinging from a 2-ball 2-strike count with two outs and no runners in the 6th inning.

"On that day, I thought I'd try throwing with a really full arm swing. I hadn't been getting that many swings and misses lately, but since they swung when I threw hard, I've been conscious of throwing hard after getting two strikes from the next game onwards as well."

◆ Stable pitching

Although he missed the Opening Day roster, since being promoted to the first team on April 9, he has shown an outstanding presence, pitching 50 innings across 36 games—primarily as a long reliever in games where the team was trailing—and recording 9 wins, 0 losses, 8 holds, and a 1.62 ERA.

"I think it's been really good this year that I've been able to closer without having to exert much effort. I think it's a good thing that I'm able to maintain that control."

While opponents are devising various countermeasures, he pitched 9 innings in 6 games in August with an ERA of 0.00. "Even while being studied, where I had been using three pitches—the two seam fastball, fork, and fastball—I wanted to try incorporating more sliders. I'm going through trial and error there, and since the slider is becoming a pitch I'm confident in, I think it's going well."

He has recorded 9 wins so far, and there are high expectations for double-digit wins. "I would like to achieve that, but I feel like I'll end up tensing up if I focus on it, so I want to go about my pitching while trying not to be conscious of it as much as possible," he said, thinking only about his own pitch.

"I think I just need to do my own pitching in whatever role I'm assigned, so I'll try not to do things I can't do. I just feel like I should focus on doing what I need to do." He will fight through the remaining month and a half of the season.

Interview and text by Yuta Iwashita