Masuda, who is the first split of the season, is hit by Asamura in the 11th round in the final solo.
■ Rakuten 6-4 Seibu (19th, Belluna Dome)
On the 19th, Seibu failed to win pitcher Tetsuya Utsumi’s retirement game. Although he persisted with nine pitchers in the game against Rakuten held at his home base, Belluna Dome, he lost 4-6 after 11 extra innings. By the 11th he was close to leader Softbank with a game difference of 0, but after the next day they were down 7 games in a row. In the remaining 6 games of this season, not only were leaders Softbank 4.5 games behind, but 3rd place Rakuten, who are in the lead range CS, were also 2 games behind.
“Because the pitcher is gone…”. After the match, director Hatsuhiko Tsuji admitted that there had been a miscalculation in the succession policy. By the ninth inning, eight pitchers were on the mound one after another, and when the game went into overtime with the score tied at 4-4, only two pitchers, Tatsuji Masuda and Keisuke Honda, remained in the line. bullpen. Up to 12 extensions. If the two were to take an inning each as usual, there was a risk they would run out of pitchers in the final 12 innings.
In this situation, Tsuji opted to bring in the guardian deity Masuda starting in round 10. When Masuda finished the 10th inning with only 9 pitches, he gave up 11 innings with the first “turnaround” of the season, but as a result, it backfired. The slider floated high against Asamura in the lead, and the winning solo #27 was hammered into the back screen. Additionally, Shimauchi also hit a double to the left fence and allowed Dai Suzuki to sacrifice the right.
Was it unreasonable to force 34-year-old Masuda to ‘step over’ for the first time since the end of the season? Director Tsuji said: “No, I have experience and I’m not at the level of a player who doesn’t care. I only threw 9 pitches in the 10th inning. It’s true that I have (from a defenseman) a pitching mentality. There are things I don’t understand, but I had no choice but to ask.
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