Card Of The Week July 6

Last Tuesday, the Fighters took a 5-2 lead into the bottom of the ninth against the Lions out at Seibu Dome.  That lead turned out not to be safe, however, as the Lions rallied in the bottom of the ninth.  After scoring a run on three singles (and a ground out), Shogo Saitoh sttepped in against Michael Crotta:



It was the first home run of Saitoh's career.  To add insult to injury, the ball landed in the middle of the Fighter's cheering section.  (I've been asked a couple of times if the Fighters fans threw the ball back onto the field - I don't know if they do that in Japan but I suspect not.)

This had been a pretty well hyped game as it pitted Yusei Kikuchi of the Lions against Shohei Ohtani o the Fighters (in his final pitching appearance as a teenager).  Neither pitcher factored in the decision although both pitched pretty well - Yusei gave up 1 run over six innings while Ohtani struck out 12, walked one and gave up two runs (only one earned) over seven innings.

Here's a card of Saitoh from the 2012 BBM Lions set (#L81) that celebrates his first career hit: