In the first leg of the final stage of the climax series of professional baseball and the Central League, Yakult, who won the league, defeated the giant who won the first stage 4-0.
Yakult scored 2-0, including one advantage given to the winning team.
Yakult 2nd year pitcher Okugawa throws a splendid pitch
Yakult won the first round and won two wins including the advantage.
Yasunobu Okugawa, who was in charge of starting the first game in the second year, met his expectations with his excellent pitching.
20-year-old pitcher Okugawa, who was a rookie last season, had no winning stars due to injuries, but this time he won the team's top nine wins and contributed to Yakult's first league title in six years.
Under these circumstances, coach Shingo Takatsu, who has high hopes for becoming an ace in the future, evaluated the results of this season and said, "I also thought about next year and beyond," and pitched Okugawa as the starting pitcher for the first round. It is.
Pitcher Okugawa also enthusiastically said, "I just want to pitch to win the team," and as he said, he showed a pitch that responded to the appointment in the game.
Among them, the one that shines is the accurate control of the characteristics.
With pitching that throws a powerful straight and a sharp changing ball, I did not focus on the giant hitting line from the start.
In the 5th inning, he invited a pinch for the first time with 1 out, 1st base and 3rd base, but he hit Yoshiyuki Kamei, who will retire only this season, with 1 ball and 2 outs.
For the next pinch hitter, Takumaru Yaoita, he overlooked the straight on the out course and struck out, surpassing the pinch.
After this, pitcher Okugawa continued stable pitching and won the first shutout in a professional including the regular season.
He took nine strikeouts and hit six hits.
And like the regular season when he didn't walk 53 innings in a row, there were no walks in this match.
The 20-year-old, who is in his second year of high school, showed excellent pitching in the first round of the short-term decisive battle and invited the team to win.
Giants Yamaguchi can take the initiative at the start
The giant who lost the first game of the climax series and the final stage and became 0 wins and 2 losses.
Starting pitcher Shun Yamaguchi was attacked by the start, and Yakult took the initiative as soon as the game started.
Pitcher Yamaguchi said, "I'm feeling better and I'm not in a bad condition," although he returned to the giants in the middle of the season from a minor league team under the Giants of the major leagues and ended up with two wins.
The theme was "attacking" against Yakult's powerful batting line, which includes home run kings Munetaka Murakami and Tetsuto Yamada.
"It is important not to run away, but to compete in the strike zone," and enthusiastically entered the first match.
However, pitcher Yamaguchi stood up and was suddenly hit by a two-base hit when Yakult's No. 1 player Yasutaka Shiomi caught the second ball.
After that, in the scene where 1 point was preempted and still 2 outs and 1st base, Santana No. 5 hit the first ball and made a two-run home run.
Suddenly I lost 3 points.
After the second inning, I didn't allow the score, but I got off the mound in the fourth inning with unstable pitching that carried the runner on my back like every time.
The final stage is a maximum of 6 consecutive battles.
He said, "I want to throw a long inning," but I couldn't throw a lot of innings, and the team dropped the first match with a disappointing result and a disappointment with the lead allowed.