Nishi! Yes!

5/12 Yakult 0-10 Hanshin (Jingu)

Win: Nishi Yuki
Loss: Yoshimura

1 CF Takadera Momu
2 RF Morishita Shota
3 3B Sato Teruaki
4 1B Oyama Yusuke
5 2B Nakano Takumu
6 LF Fukushima Keion
7 C Fushimi Torai
8 SS Obata Ryuhei
9 P Nishi Yuki

I checked the starting lineup when it was announced and saw Oyama was back, well, well.
I didn't realize my eyes had just glazed over until the game started.
The cleanup hitters all moved up one spot, and Nakano was in the 5th spot.
I quite liked the lineup change. It's not about the result, but the flexibility to change things up.

But what should I do? There's too much to talk about today. I'm happy. Yes!

Leadoff hitter Takadera opened the scoring with a home run to left!
It went through a small gap in the fence, but neither the umpires, the bench, nor the players pointed it out, so it was treated as a "home run" and the game continued.
It looked like it hit the fence, though.

Speaking of Takadera, in the bottom of the 3rd, he made a diving catch on Santana's ball that was tailing away into right-center! That was a great play.

Top of the 7th, looking for insurance runs.
With two outs, Obata hit a single despite breaking his bat, and then pinch-hitter Shimamura Rinshiro hit his first professional home run!
A home run to the opposite field is scary, man.
The offense had been quiet since the 2nd inning, so the insurance runs provided by these two were huge.

Bottom of the 7th, Kirishiki got his revenge. When Sawai's hit struck the base and became an infield single, I felt like ripping that base right out of the ground.

Wait a minute, if I keep writing like this, I'll never finish!

Top of the 8th.
Oyama, back from his break, hit a massive blast to left. (To keep it brief)

And then the top of the 9th was crazy!!
Leadoff hitter Fukushima hit a double with his speed.
Torai-san, who had been hitless that day, delivered a brilliant birthday RBI hit.
Pinch-hitter Motoyama got his first hit since the trade. Coach Tsutsui returned the ball to keep as a souvenir.
After Takuya struggled to get outs while pitching across innings, Morishita hit a grand slam.
I didn't realize it was Morishita's first professional grand slam. I just thought, 'That guy is a real monster' (laughs).

And in this 9th inning, the whole stadium got excited when "Pitcher Osuna" took the mound.
With the score at 0-10, manager Ikeyama didn't want to use his pitchers, so he put first baseman Osuna on the mound.
They didn't want to risk him getting hit, so Onodera pinch-hit for Oyama. (Wait, Onodera is okay?)

In the bottom half, Osuna stayed in to bat. There was applause for that, too.
A little two-way action.

Writing this much, I wonder what the highlight of the day was.
Hmm, maybe it was that it was Torai-san's birthday.
Is that really it?

It has to be Nishi's second win!
He pitched a masterful game that couldn't be touched from the middle innings on, celebrating his 300th consecutive start with a win.

The right-hander, who won his last game with 10 runs of support, got 10 runs again today.
This is the same Nishi who used to be synonymous with "Nishi!" and "No run support!"

I hope we get to hear his "It was great! Yes!" hero interview many more times from here on out.

I'm looking forward to his 301st start.