On June 18, 2025, the Hanshin Tigers defeated the Chiba Lotte Marines 8-1 in a Nippon Life Interleague Play game held at Hanshin Koshien Stadium. This victory snapped the Tigers' seven-game losing streak.
The Tigers opened the scoring in the bottom of the 3rd inning with an RBI single from Shota Morishita. They extended their lead in the 5th inning with timely hits from Takumu Nakano and Yusuke Ohyama, making it 3-0.
Starting pitcher Masashi Ito was in fine form, delivering a strong performance with just one earned run allowed over 6 innings, earning him his first win of the season.
The Hanshin offense truly exploded in the bottom of the 8th inning, putting the game out of reach. In this pivotal inning, the Tigers scored five runs. Koji Chikamoto, Takumu Nakano, and Shota Morishita all contributed with RBI singles, and Teruaki Sato capped off the scoring with a two-run home run, his 19th of the season.
The Marines' only run came in the top of the 6th inning via a sacrifice fly from Hisanori Yasuda. However, their offense struggled, including three failed stolen base attempts, which hampered their comeback efforts.
Ultimately, the Hanshin Tigers secured a dominant 8-1 victory, bringing an end to their recent struggles.
[thoughts]
The seven-game losing streak that started on June 10 has finally come to an end.
In Sunday’s game against the Rakuten Eagles, Sato—who had been heavily criticized after casually walking on what he thought was a home run only for it to be a single off the fence—redeemed himself with a legitimate 19th home run, and this time, he made sure to run properly. (Given the stress of the losing streak and the backlash he received, I’d been worried it might affect his performance.)
During the skid, our rock-solid pitching staff was hit hard like never before.
Before interleague play began, having a lead by the end of the sixth inning pretty much guaranteed a win. Lately though, even a two-run lead feels dangerously shaky—I’m constantly on edge thinking the game could flip at any moment.
I never imagined things would unravel this much just because Daichi Ishii—who took a line drive to the head on June 6 and is now rehabbing—isn’t around. Given the severity of where he was struck (even if it means losing more games), I really hope they take every precaution and don’t rush his return.
