Nippon-Ham Fighters close the gap to first-place Softbank with consecutive wins, 2.5 points behind. Manager Tsuyoshi Shinjo: “There’s still a chance.” | Pacific League

[Nippon-Ham] With consecutive wins, they are now 2.5 points behind the leader Softbank. Manager Tsuyoshi Shinjo says, “There are still chances.”

Sports Hochi

2025.9.21(日) 19:06

Pacific League Nippon-Ham 7-2 Lotte (21st, ES CON FIELD)

Nippon-Ham defeated Lotte’s starting pitcher Kojima and won comfortably. With two straight wins, the gap with Softbank who had lost two straight, is now 2.5 games.

In the first inning, Mizutani hit his 12th home run, a two-doble to right-center field, to take the lead, and in the third inning, Reyes hit a timely double down the right field line, and Gunji hit his 9th home run, a two-run shot, to add three more runs. In the sixth inning, with the bases loaded loaded Walk, consecutive walks forced in two runs to seal the win.

On the pitching side, starting pitcher Fukushima struggled with control but pitched tenaciously, allowing only 5 hit 2 runs in 5 innings. The team maintained their undefeated 5-game winning streak.

Manager Tsuyoshi Shinjo said, “I don’t have many comments to make from now on. We just need to keep winning, winning and winning. It doesn’t matter who performs well or who makes mistakes, we’ll all just come together as one team and win. We still have a chance.”

Related News

・ [Scoreboard] Nippon-Ham vs. Lotte
・ [Nippon-Ham] Shun Mizutani “I was able to give Fukushima two good runs” – his 12th home run, a two-run shot to take the lead in the first inning
・ [Nippon-Ham] Shinji Takeda “When I put oil on my body, the ball slipped” first baseman Laughs out loud at first pitch
・ [Nippon-Ham] Kotaro Kiyomiya farewell to retiring Sho Nakata with four RBI, “It feels like an era is coming to an end.”
・ [Nippon-Ham] Manager Shinjo: “That was not an error. I would like the scorer to change it.” He makes a request regarding the recording of errors between second and shortstop.