Nippon Professional Playoffs》Sun Yilei went 4K without losing points in 2 games, Ham defeated Seibu and advanced to the final round of the climax game

Sun Yilei. (File photo, provided by Nishi Nippon Shimbun)

[Sports Center/Comprehensive Report] In the first round of the best-of-three series of the Nippon Professional Playoffs, Nippon Ham, third in the Pacific League, faced the Seibu Lions, second in the Western Conference, at the Belluna Dome away from home today. Taiwan's 21-year-old rising star Sun Yilei went 4K scoreless in two games as a backup. The Hams defeated Seibu 4:1 in the final, and successfully advanced to the final round of the climax series, facing the Western Conference champion SoftBank, which has two wins.

After losing the first game, Ham won the second game yesterday and forced a life-and-death battle in G3. Today, Ham launched ace Ito Daimi as the starter to face the 26-year-old powerful left-hander Takeuchi Natsuki. Ham scored first on Nomura Yuki's timely hit in the second inning, and Banami Chukasa hit a left field hit in the fourth inning to expand the lead.

Daimi Narama scored the third run on a sacrifice fly in the 5th inning. Seibu finally broke through Ito Daimi's blockade in the next half of the inning, but with one out and the bases loaded, only Genda Genda's sacrifice fly in right field broke the ball and caught up to a 1:3 two-point deficit.

Ham's offensive resumed in the 7th inning. Yuki Nomura hit a double, then replaced the runner, and then used a sacrifice bunt to advance to third base. At this time, Seibu bullpen pitcher Hibiki Shinohara made a wild throw, allowing Ham to easily run back the 4th run.

Taiwanese fireball man Sun Yilei came on board as a reliever in the bottom of the 7th inning. He struck out Nobuya Hasegawa in the first pitch. In the next at bat, Taiga Hirasawa hit a fly ball to second base and was out. Finally, he knocked out Shuta Sozaki and pitched three ups and three outs.

Sun Yilei continued to pitch in the 8th inning. First, Soaki Genda failed to swing and struck out. In the next pitch, Seiya Watanabe hit a cross-center field hit. This was his first hit in the playoffs. After that, he walked Alexander Canario (Alexander) with four bad balls. Canario), leaving first and second base occupied. Fortunately, Sun Yilei recovered in time, K dropped Kao Takizawa, and let Kojima Taiga hit a fly ball to the left field and was caught, successfully resolving the crisis of losing points.

Sun Yilei used a total of 32 balls in 2 innings, with no hits and no runs, and 4 strikeouts. He had no runs in the playoffs for 2 consecutive games. The fastest ball speed in the game was 154 kilometers.

Ham terminator Yanagawa Dasheng successfully closed the door and defended the victory, helping the team win 4:1 at the end. The series advanced to the final round of the climactic series with 2 wins and 1 loss. Sun Yilei also received the second relay success.