■ Professional Baseball Giants 0-8 DeNA (8th, Tokyo Dome)

DeNA won a shutout victory over the Giants. In the first inning, DeNA scored four runs with consecutive hits by No. 4 Austin (33) and No. 5 Hideto Maki (26) and a sacrifice fly by No. 8 Yota Kyoda (30). In the second inning, DeNA added another run with a timely double by No. 5 Maki, giving them five runs. In the top of the ninth inning, they added three more runs with a timely hit and an error by the opponent, making the score 8-0. On the pitching side, Mitsuki Yoshino (26) pitched well, allowing no runs in six innings, earning his second win. The relief pitchers also kept the score at zero.

In the previous day’s game, the score was tied at 2-2 in the bottom of the 12th inning, and the eighth pitcher Chihaya Sasaki (30) took to the mound for the second inning, but was hit by a home run to left-center field by Rui Okoye (27), resulting in a walk-off loss. Yoshino, who started this game, was pitching in his fourth game of the season. Before the game, he had one win and one loss, with an ERA of 4.50. In his last game on the mound on August 23rd against Yakult (Jingu), he gave up two runs in five innings, earning his first professional win.

In the first inning, the Giants’ starting pitcher Mendes (29) led off with Takaki Kajiwara (24) reaching base on a bad throw from Kazuma Okamoto (28), who was playing third base. No. 2 Tatsuo Ebina (26) was walked, giving the team a chance with runners on first and second with one out, and No. 4 Austin hit a timely double to left field to take the lead. No. 5 Maki also hit a timely double to left field to make it 3-0. No. 6 Toshiro Miyazaki (35) and No. 7 Yudai Yamamoto (25) walked consecutively to create another good opportunity with the bases loaded and one out, and Mendes was taken out of the game. The Giants’ second pitcher was Yuji Akaboshi (25) on the mound. No. 8 Kyoda hit a sacrifice fly to center field to extend the lead to 4-0.

In the bottom of the inning, Yoshino started off by hitting the first batter, Yoshihiro Maru (35), with a foul fly to the catcher. He allowed the second batter, Naoki Yoshikawa (29), to hit a single to center field and the third batter, Montes (27), to walk, allowing both to reach base, but he struck out the fourth batter, Kazu Okamoto, and the fifth batter, Takuzo Oshiro (31), to keep the score at zero.

In the top of the second inning, with two outs and no runners on base, No. 4 hitter Austin hit a single to center field and got on base, and No. 5 hitter Maki followed with an RBI double that hit the right field fence, adding to the fifth run.

With five runs of support, Yoshino showed tenacity in the middle of the game, even though there were runners on base, and kept the score at zero. In the final stages, the second pitcher Yuya Sakamoto (27) came on to pitch in the bottom of the seventh inning and pitched well, leading to a scoreless game.

In the bottom of the eighth, the third pitcher Wick (31) retired the entire batting lineup, starting with the second batter Yoshikawa. In the top of the ninth, the first batter Kajiwara hit a double to left field, the third batter Sano was hit by a pitch, and with one out and runners on first and third, the fourth batter Austin hit a timely single to left field to make the score 6-0. Next, Maki’s hit was thrown badly by first baseman Yuto Akihiro (21), scoring the seventh run, and the seventh batter Yamamoto’s timely hit to center field added the eighth run.

With an 8-point lead, the fourth pitcher Yuto Mori (32) was unable to allow the Giants’ batting line to fight back in the bottom of the ninth inning, and the game ended. DeNA won, bringing their record against the Giants to 1 win and 1 loss.