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The story
In the September 22, 2026 game between Hiroshima and the Yomiuri Giants, Hiroshima won on a walk-off hit by Katsuta with one out and the bases loaded in the bottom of the 11th, denying the Giants a fourth straight win and handing them their 60th loss of the season. Starter Togo battled through five innings allowing just one run, but after Izumiguchi, Dalbec, and Oshiro strung together three straight hits in the 7th to tie the game, Sakamoto, pinch-hitter Maru, and Sasahara all failed to come through in the very next at-bats, and the Giants couldn’t retake the lead. Afterward, acting manager Hashigami admitted his frustration, saying, “We needed to turn it around in that inning.” On 5ch, opinions split between fans who questioned the decision not to call for a sacrifice bunt in that spot, and defenders who argued he’s “doing well for someone just filling in.” The same day also saw chatter about other ballparks, including Nakajima Takuya’s tearful infield single in his Nippon-Ham retirement game.
What people said
Giants Acting Manager 147
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/34d7e2eeebc6d1715e7a2ba6e50532c97eaba2a6
[Giants] Nightmare walk-off loss ends bid for 4 straight wins… hit 60 losses. Akahoshi surrenders the heartbreaking hit to Katsuta. Three straight hits off Izumiguchi tie it in the 7th. Funasako escapes a bases-loaded, two-out jam. Togo goes 5 innings, 1 run allowed.
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/31092f722135a0f2ebcf3b528bec4083ff2c5a05
Unlike last time when he clearly didn't want the job, he seems weirdly fired up this time.
Hitting coach Matsui will come with him.
Probably Masaki Saito and Shinichi Murata too.
He's like a mini Murakami.
Ishizuka: 0 homers in 111 at-bats
Come on Ishizuka, give us something.
Acting manager Hashigami reflected on the 7th-inning at-bat with the score 0-1: "The gist of it was that we really needed to turn things around in that inning. Unfortunately, we only managed to tie it, and that's the disappointing part."
Hiroshima starter Tamamura had held the Giants to just two hits through the 6th, but the heart of the order — Izumiguchi, Dalbec, and Oshiro — strung together three straight hits to tie the game.
That knocked Tamamura out of the game. With a real shot at taking the lead, Sakamoto, pinch-hitter Maru, and Sasahara all made outs against reliever Turnock. Hashigami looked back on it: "I didn't expect us to score easily. But the momentum was there — we'd just tied it that inning, and it felt like we had a shot to go ahead. Unfortunately, the momentum seemed to stall right there."
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/cd2689c9ab8cdabb49e7b602d7f9aea28958d2fd
Later, I'm busy with Jingu right now
To sum up: it's on Sakamoto, Maru, and Sasahara for not getting the go-ahead hit.
That comment sounds like he's talking about someone else's team.
There was plenty he could've done strategically.
No way he was coming through that many times.
Why are you getting flustered by these guys?
Yakult's gonna lose anyway.
He's already got that "please, no more" look on his face.
He's only filling in reluctantly because of Abe in the first place — getting hammered like this, it's no wonder he'd feel like he can't take it anymore.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQrp2YeapKU
Still, I think he's done well for an acting manager.
I don't remember much criticism about that at the time (maybe I just missed it), but if you had a hitter like that bunt today, it'd be a firestorm of criticism.
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/8d4274464cb43f0eb55fc6f093ec3fe02e3329dd
The "Giants Acting Manager" title should serve him well going forward too.
If "Unagi" (nickname, lit. "eel") were in charge, going .500 would've been considered good, honestly.
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/037b7e930ce45a8a892deb0f2c3fea7fc3935f46
Praises Encarnacion for changing the team
ZOZO Marine Stadium
Es Con Field
If that's the case, it'd be fun if Hiroshima brought back Ogata too.
He'd probably want to wipe out the disgrace from his last stint.
Background and Points of Debate
With this loss, the Giants reached 60 losses on the season, and as noted in comment #4, the result against Hiroshima also locked in a third straight losing (B-Class) finish. The man at the helm, Hiroshi Hashigami, is serving as “acting manager” in place of manager Shinnosuke Abe, and opinions in the thread split over his in-game decisions. Some questioned why he let his hitters swing away instead of calling for a sacrifice bunt in the at-bat right after the team tied the game in the 7th, while others argued that “for someone just filling in, he’s done more than enough” — making this more than a simple case of second-guessing a bad call. The fact that his post-game comments sidestepped direct discussion of the strategy itself also seems to have fed some of the frustration. True to the flavor of this kind of live-discussion thread, chatter about other ballparks — including Nakajima Takuya’s retirement game and the Nippon-Ham game — wove through the same thread that day as well.
Note: This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project board) thread “Giants Acting Manager 148.”
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