◇ Tohoku Rakuten Eagles vs Saitama Seibu Lions 19th Round (23rd, Rakuten Eagles Mobile Saikyo Park Miyagi)

Saitama Seibu Lions 's Sou Sato pitcher made an emergency start and pitched well with a 1-runs in the middle of the sixth inning.

​Natsuki Takeuchi pitcher, who was the scheduled starter for the day, withdrew due to back tension, so Sou Sato pitcher was suddenly assigned as the starting pitcher. He started the first inning with three batters retired in order, but in the bottom of the second, McCuscar hit his 19th solo homer, giving up the lead. However, he then retired the next batters despite runner in the third and fourth innings.

In the bottom of the fifth, just after his teammates scored and caught up, he retired all three batters including struck out. In the bottom of the sixth, after giving up a hit with two outs, he was pulled, pitching 79 pitches in 5.2 innings, pitching 4 hit 1 walk Hit by Pitch 2 strike out 1 runs, making an emergency appearance to create the game. Sou Sato pitcher also made an emergency appearance in the May 16 game against Hokkaido Nippon-Ham in place of Chihiro Sumida pitcher. He had 4 runs in the middle of the 5th inning, but this time he showed a brilliant pitch.

◇ Sou Sato pitcher Comments
"In the early stages, my pitching was probing and I got hit by a single hit, but after that, I was able to switch my mindset and focus on my own pitching. I regret and feel frustrated that I had to leave before getting three outs in the fifth inning. I want to review my fastball output once again, and keep practicing so that I can perform well whenever called up, without losing my spirits for the next outing."

Text by Ryo Aritake