Manager Shinjo's words still ring true in my heart... Nippon-Ham 's Hiromi Ito gets revenge with a shutout in the 8th inning! "We'll definitely win Game 4" | Pacific League

The words of Manager Shinjo still ring in my heart… Nippon-Ham ‘s Hiromi Ito gets revenge by shutting out the opponents in the 8th inning! “We’ll definitely win Game 4!”

Sports Hochi

2025.10.18(土) 05:30

４回２死三塁、野村を空振り三振に仕留め、雄たけびを上げる伊藤（カメラ・豊田　秀一）

◆2025 Persol Climax Series Pacific Final Stage Game 3 Softbank 0-6 Nippon-Ham (17th, Mizuho PayPay Dome)

In the third game of the final stage (S) of the 2025 Persol Climax Series Pacific League, the struggling Nippon-Ham Fighters defeated Softbank Hawks to finish the series 1-3 (Softbank has a 1-0 advantage). pitcher Hiromi Ito (28) runs 11 strike out, demonstrating his ace spirit. Manager Tsuyoshi Shinjo (53) used catcher Yuya Gunji (27), who had been a drag with no hit until Game 2, as the fourth batter and third baseman. He lived up to expectations with a sacrifice sacrifice fly in the first inning and a three-run doble in the seventh, scoring four RBI.

He exclaimed on the stand and smiled shyly. Ito was asked in his hero interview how he felt about tomorrow. I’m going to win for sure! mound The ace, who was quiet when he got off the “A” team, said, “My mouth wasn’t rolling. I don’t usually do that. The team had to win the game in the 8th inning 5 hit and 11 struck out innings in each inning without loss runs. The team recorded double digits strike out in the postseason following Darvish in 2006 and 2008, Otani in 2002 and Fukushima the previous day (16th), snapping the team’s losing streak Softbank in the final S since last season at five.

Manager Shinjo’s words became his driving force. He did not pitch in the first series against Lotte in last season’s CS, but was fully prepared to start in the first game of the final series against defending champion Softbank on October 16th, but gave up 10 hit 4 runs in the middle of the 6th inning, becoming the lose pitcher. After the game, the manager called him over and told him, “Don’t forget this disappointment.” He was inspired. “I still haven’t forgotten that disappointment, and I’ve been thinking about winning in these types of situations every day, so I’m really happy that the results paid off.” He had avenged his loss.

After two years, revenge was inevitable. Last season, the speed of splitter increased too much, making it difficult to vary the speed of his fastball. This season, he has been working hard to master a new pitch, the kick change, through trial and error, saying, “I need to differentiate between my fastball and my falling ball.” In the process of mastering the new pitch, he has improved the accuracy of fork, which he had previously struggled with, and his strikeout rate has also increased. “fork got better towards the end of the season, so that helped me out,” he said, savoring the improvement he has made since last season.

Manager Shinjo praised Ito, who loves fishing, and Gunji, who had four RBIs, saying, “He’s a master of fishing and the face of the RBI four hitter. You can ask the players for the rest,” before briskly leaving the stadium. After the game on the 16th, the manager had said, “If we win four games, a dramatic story will happen,” and so the story of his comeback began. (Haruki Kawakami)

◆Records ▼…Ito (JPN), the most wins in PO and CS, pitched 8 innings, 11 strike out and Uesawa (SO) pitched 6 2/3 innings, 10 strike out. Double digits strike out in PO and CS were the 14th, 15th, 19th, 20th after Fukushima (JPN) in the final S <2> game of this year. Uesawa also became the second player after Fukushima to reach double digits strike out with lose pitcher. It was the first time in PO and CS that two pitcher reached double digits strike out in a single game.

▼… Nippon-Ham and Softbank are both 12 struck out, for a total of 24 struck out for both teams, tying the 24 struck out total for the final S5 game of ’14 (So. 14-10), and the most struck out (9 games) for both teams in the PO and CS. Softbank struck out This is the 11th time since the last S (1) game in 2012 Softbank (C 4, P 7).