Japanese Professional Playoffs" "The hard work and persistence of the pitching staff is the key to winning" Xinzhuang Supervisor named Sun Yilei

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

[Sports Center/Comprehensive Report] Nippon Ham defeated Seibu 4:1 in a desperate battle in G3 in the first round of the Climax Series today, advancing to the final round of the Climax Series for the third consecutive year. Ham manager Tsuyoshi Shinjo was interviewed after the game and praised the performance of the pitching staff.

Ham ace Ito Daimi allowed one run in five starts today. Bullpen pitchers Shimamoto Koya, Tamai Daisho and Sun Yilei all took turns to hold on, and the final closer Yanagawa Daisheng successfully closed the door to hold on to the victory. Supervisor Takeshi Shinjo praised the whole team for doing a good job. He also affirmed the performance of the pitching staff. The starting pitchers stabilized the game, and Sun Yilei also pitched two innings. The hard work and persistence of the pitching staff were the key to winning this time.

In addition, Ham made a surprise move in the 7th inning. At that time, there was a perfect scoring opportunity with one out at third base. When Hide Yamagata came on to bat the first pitch, third base runner Tatsuki Mizuno made a move to prepare to start, and Yamagata also posed for a bunt at the same time.

Standing on the pitcher's mound, Seibu pitcher Hibiki Shinohara was wary of a forced-run tactic and deliberately threw the ball to the outside corner, far away from the strike zone. However, catcher Taiga Kojima failed to catch the ball, resulting in a wild throw, allowing third base runner Mizuno to smoothly run back to home plate and score the fourth run.

Supervisor Xinzhuang personally explained the tactic after the game. He said: "For that false bunt, we designed it based on the situation that the ball would bounce. What I thought was that if he throws a fork ball and the ball hits the ground and bounces and the catcher can't block it, that would be great."

Xinzhuang also added: "There is about a 70% chance that the opponent will think that we are going to make a move, so they will be designed by us to let us score this point. We know that the opponent has seen through that we will use these tactics. The next key is to choose when to make a move. Today we used a fake move. The team still needed to score another point at that time, so it is worth giving it a try."