◆ Pacific League: Nippon-Ham 2-1 Softbank Hawks (1st, ES CON FIELD)

The parabola that he drew high into the air reached the left field bullpen. Nippon-Ham 's Imagawa slammed the ball up with all his might. Leading off the second inning with the score 0-1, he connected with Moinelo's 128 km/h sweeper for his fourth home run of the season, tying the game. Regarding the "moonshot" with a launch angle of 44 degrees, he said, "I was so nervous I thought I was going to throw up. It's like that every time, but I'm surprised myself. It's scary. It's scary." He then relaxed his expression as he made his signature "tenacity pose," pointing his index finger to the sky.

He stands in the batter's box with a strong sense of urgency. The 29-year-old, now in his sixth professional season, was promoted to the first team for the first time this season on August 14. After a game against Lotte at ZOZO Marine Stadium on the 23rd, he mingled with regular commuters on a train to head to the minor league facilities in Kamagaya, Chiba. His goal was to lift weights and swing his bat on the following day off. 'I feel like I'm on the edge every day. I don't want to lose that sense of crisis,' he said. He approaches every daily at-bat without wasting a single day.

The team extended their winning streak to five games for the third time this season, reaching a season-high 15 games over .500. Manager Shinjo revealed that he had informed Imagawa of his first start in the cleanup spot this season via DM the previous day, August 31st, saying, 'It was probably right after I got out of the sauna.' He smiled at Imagawa's continued dominance as a 'Moinelo killer' since last season, noting, 'I guess there really is such a thing as compatibility.' Since his call-up, the Hokkaido-born slugger beloved by local fans has posted a .333 batting average over 11 games, positioning himself to be the lucky charm for Shinjo's Fighters. (Haruki Kawakami)