The 18th game between Hokkaido Nippon-Ham and the Saitama Seibu Lions will be held at ES CON FIELD on August 11th at 2 PM.

[Head-to-head record] Hokkaido Nippon-Ham (2nd place) vs. Saitama Seibu Lions (3rd place): 8 wins, 9 losses

[Announced Starting Pitcher]
Hokkaido Nippon-Ham: pitcher Hiromi Ito 19 games, 8 wins, 6 losses, 3.18 ERA
Saitama Seibu Lions: Kaima Taira pitcher 16 games, 7 wins, 3 losses, 1.59 ERA

Second-place Hokkaido Nippon-Ham, just one game behind, will clash with third-place Saitama Seibu Seibu Lions. pitcher pitcher the first game of the series will be Hiromi Ito and Kaima Taira.

pitcher Ito has faced the Saitama Seibu Lions five times this season, compiling a record of 1 win and 0 losses with ERA of 2.73. He has shown consistency, achieving a Quality Start in all of those games. While he gave up multiple runs in some appearances in July, he managed to limit runs to strike out 7 innings against Fukuoka Softbank, striking out 8 hit 7 innings. He is aiming for his first win in approximately two months, since June 19th.

On the other hand, pitcher Taira has struggled at the start of his last two starts, giving up 3 runs in 5 innings and 5 runs in 3 innings, respectively, which is disappointing. In this start, he will be looking to control the game and give momentum to his team, which has lost two consecutive series.