On 20 May, the fifth round match between Orix and Chiba Lotte took place in Kyocera Dome Osaka, where Orix win 2-1.
In the bottom of the third inning with both teams scoreless, with two outs, Taishi Hirooka had a chance to put runners on second and third on wild pitches by Walk and Ryoma Nishikawa hit. Tomoya Mori then hit an RBI single to center fielder to score the first run of the game.
Starting pitcher Alen Kuri pitcher allowed infield hit in the first hitter of the first inning, but closer the next three batters. He gave up Walk in the top of the second inning, but got a double play out, and from the third inning onward, he struck out three straight inning in a row.
But in the top of the seventh, with two Walk outs and runners on first and second with two outs, Daito Yamamoto was hit by an RBI single to tie the game. In the top of the eighth, he closer again in a three-way tie, and in the eighth inning, he gave up 2 hit 3 Walk 6 strike out 1 runs on 114 pitches to get out of mound. In the top of the ninth, Machado pitcher tied the game with a three-run tie, including two strike out.
In the bottom of the ninth inning with the score tied 1-1, Kenya Wakatsuki led off the inning with a Riku Kikuchi pitcher caught the second pitch he threw perfectly, and the batted ball went into the left-field stands. walk-off hit a solo shot in the third to end the game with a 2-1 lead. The offense was unable to score another run after the fourth inning despite issuing runner in five consecutive inning, but Wakatsuki hit his third walk-off of the season to tie the game. Nishikawa has 3 hit and Ryoto Kita has 2 hit.
In the Chiba Lotte loss, starter Shuta Ishikawa pitcher allowed 6 hit 3 Walk 1 strike out 1 runs on 96 pitches in six innings, but he didn’t get his first win since the move. The offense was unable to provide any support, scoring just one run in 2 hit and Kikuchi pitcher was hit with a blow that prevented the Yankees from winning back-to-back games for the first time since April 25.
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RO 000000100 1
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Shuta Ishikawa-Akira Yagi-Shunsuke Nakamori-Riku Kikuchi
Okuri Alen Kuri- ○ Machado
Text by Mao Tsutsui
・ Match details/video
AloJapan.com