Today, Itou Takuro's initial performance appeared quite unstable.
In the third inning, he started by striking out Chongxin Shen Zhong with a beautiful edge slider, earning his first strikeout of the game;
but then, when facing Matsunaga Kenta and Kenshu Yasuda, his pitching touch, which had been just fine, seemed to suddenly vanish:
First, a 140 km/h pitch hit Matsunaga Kenta, causing him to sit on the ground in pain for quite a while before recovering;
Then, when facing Kenshu Yasuda directly, despite having a favorable 0-2 count, he threw four consecutive balls, all of which Kenshu Yasuda watched, giving away what could have been an out.
The pitcher's erratic state made Ishikawa Ryo, the catcher for Imperial Capital, feel uneasy — especially considering that the next batter to face would be Lin Guanglai.
"Batting fourth, pitcher, Mr. Lin."
"Batting fourth, pitcher, Mr. Lin."
