◆ Pacific League: Seibu Lions 1-7 Nippon-Ham (13th, Belluna Dome)

Nippon-Ham pitcher Nao Miyanishi (41) took the mound in the 8th inning with the score at 1-7, allowing 1 hit and 0 runs in 1 inning. With this, he has tied Ryota Igarashi, who made 906 consecutive relief appearances across Japan and the US for teams including Yakult, the MLB Mets, and the Softbank Hawks, for the most relief appearances by a Japanese player.

Last May, he extended his streak of consecutive relief appearances to 880 games, surpassing Chunichi's Hitoki Iwase to break the professional baseball record. As he further increased that number, he looked back on the career he built over 19 years in the pros, saying, 'There were many ups and downs, sometimes providing relief and sometimes receiving it.'

On this day, he struck out the lead-off hitter Canario swinging with a change-up. Against the following batter Takizawa, he pushed him into a corner by mixing in the cutter he has been working on this season and his signature slider, finally striking him out swinging with a cutter. 'The change-up has been good lately, so that was key. The cutter also felt good. It was great to be able to execute what I've been working on this year,' he said, expressing his confidence. The legendary left-hander, who never stops evolving, continues to build up his numbers.