The Yomiuri Giants rallied to beat the Yakult Swallows on the 20th, pushing their season win differential to a season-high-tying +14 and grabbing provisional first place. With two outs and the bases loaded in the seventh, Yuta Izumiguchi delivered the go-ahead RBI hit, and closer Martinez picked up his 40th save of the year, reaching 252 career saves — tied for third all-time in the league. Yakult, meanwhile, dropped its sixth straight game to fall to a league-worst -17, keeping alive the grim possibility of an eighth consecutive losing season. On 5ch’s live-commentary threads, fans buzzed over the late-inning comeback while also grumbling about a replay-review call and swapping chatter about other games involving the Hanshin Tigers and Orix Buffaloes, making for a lively thread.
What people said
1AnonymousSep 20, 2026 18:38
Previous thread
Giants Acting-Manager Thread 144
4AnonymousSep 20, 2026 18:39
[Giants] Comeback win puts them in 'provisional first place'! Season-high-tying +14 win differential, 6th straight win over Yakult — Izumiguchi delivers the go-ahead hit with 2 outs and bases loaded in the 7th; Martinez notches his 40th save, tying for 3rd all-time with 252 career saves
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/188133f0037398848f148394ffa5b86d1987fcef
[Yakult] Comeback loss drops them to a league-worst -17; 6th straight loss to the Giants means no winning season for an 8th straight year… Sakaguchi loads the bases on 3 walks in the 7th before Izumiguchi's crushing go-ahead hit; Takahashi allows 1 run through 6-plus innings
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/e0841dc1e08669958b700e6b09a2721c4bef020f
6AnonymousSep 20, 2026 18:44
Made an amazing discovery
Isn't Hanshin actually weak if you just shut down Morishita and Sato-teru (nickname for Sato Teruaki)?
9AnonymousSep 20, 2026 18:47
Well well
Things are heating up
13AnonymousSep 20, 2026 18:49
Now let's see how this other situation plays out
14AnonymousSep 20, 2026 18:50
Nice, Takeda!
Morishita's cocky throw lololololol
18AnonymousSep 20, 2026 18:50
Takeda lol
Wanna bat 2nd for our team?
20AnonymousSep 20, 2026 18:50
Morishita's way too much of a 'me, me, me' guy lol
23AnonymousSep 20, 2026 18:51
Sano, get a hit already! Can't have it be only our team not scoring, no way
38AnonymousSep 20, 2026 18:53
Hosokawa's HEEERE (゚∀゚) !!
41AnonymousSep 20, 2026 18:54
If we don't score here we're gonna get hit right back in the bottom half
Takeda's still on base too
45AnonymousSep 20, 2026 18:55
And it's gone, welp lolololololololololololololololol
52AnonymousSep 20, 2026 18:56
The real issue is Takeda's been stuck on base this whole time
53AnonymousSep 20, 2026 18:57
Sakamoto's been fumbling grounders all day so I'm not gonna ask for any tricky throws
62AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:04
Go BayStars, win it all
Go BayStars, win it all
Go BayStars, win it all
Go BayStars, win it all
Go BayStars, win it all
64AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:05
I want to see BayStars win it all
I want to see BayStars win it all
I want to see BayStars win it all
I want to see BayStars win it all
I want to see BayStars win it all
70AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:06
[Beat Writer's Giants Chronicle] Grit Shines Through Again — Giants' Yuta Izumiguchi's Late-Game Go-Ahead Hit Is His Third This Month
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/5e03bb6a538d05635db02d4c79bd4da8a856c37c
He chucked his helmet, lol
Morishita taking it out on his gear lolol
86AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:08
[Orix] Manager Mamoru Kishida on Ryoma Nishikawa tying the Pacific League lead in hits: 'It's all about the accumulation' — batting him leadoff for a 6th straight game
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/cbdc5209f71651ba42a3707848836627af4b4b1a
87AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:09
Go BayStars
Go BayStars
Go BayStars
Go BayStars
Go BayStars
102AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:14
At this rate our team's gonna fall out of first place…
109AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:15
That was basically a routine single up the middle turned into a line drive straight at the second baseman, lol
118AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:16
Come on, quit doing that…
126AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:16
Re: #118
Typo: '辞めて' (quit)
Meant: '止めて' (stop)
119AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:16
It's fine, it's totally fine
This BayStars team can absolutely come back from this
123AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:16
And here I thought luck was finally on our side, lol
127AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:16
If only Santana's bat hadn't gone flying into Shion-nu (nickname for a player)
128AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:17
Hanshin fans cheering over the other team's error (what a joke)
133AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:17
That replay review took way too long
Shouldn't have even been accepted
136AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:18
If it had actually hit him, wouldn't he be acting like it hurt a lot more?
139AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:18
Why'd they even accept the challenge when it came in that late?
142AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:19
Re: #139
Because the umpire himself thought he'd blown the call
144AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:19
If it really hit him it'd look a lot more painful than that
149AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:20
Re: #144
Guy's just built tough
148AnonymousSep 20, 2026 19:20
HERE COMES A BLOOPER PLAY (chinpa, slang for a bizarre/blooper play) AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Background and Key Points
The Giants’ “win differential” (chokin, literally “savings”) tracks their season-long margin of wins over losses, and today’s +14 ties the team’s best mark of the season. Yakult, by contrast, sits at a league-worst -17 (“shakkin,” or “debt”), putting an eighth consecutive losing season within uncomfortably close reach. Martinez’s 40th save of the season and his 252 career saves — good for a tie for third all-time in the league — underscore his track record as a reliable closer. On the live-commentary threads, fans praised Izumiguchi for his go-ahead hit, while others questioned how the close, late-arriving replay review was handled. Worth noting: posts about pitcher Morishita’s delivery and attitude were actually reactions to a separate same-day game (the Hanshin Tigers matchup), discussed in parallel rather than being part of the Giants-Yakult thread itself.
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