Giant Naoki Yoshikawa, who was diagnosed with a broken bone, returns to the first team with a sad determination “I never heard about it for his teammate Naoki (laughs)” – Sponichi Sponichi Annex Baseball.

Giants infielder Naoki Yoshikawa (29), sidelined with a season-ending left side injury, was listed as a player on the 19th and played against DeNA in Game 4 of the final stage of the Climax Series (CS) (Tokyo). D.) and joined the bench. Although he did not play until the end, he and his team enjoyed their long-awaited first victory, which finally came after losing the first three games.

After the match, when asked about Yoshikawa, manager Shinnosuke Abe (45) said, “Because he was taking a fighting stance,” Yoshikawa offered to do so, and said, “I wanted to contribute somehow, so I felt. as if my bones were jumping.” “He is broken, but he came in willingly,” he said, declaring that he had a broken bone.

In the game against DeNA (Yokohama) on September 26th, Yoshikawa hit the leadoff hit in the first inning and hit the final out in a timely fashion to left field, putting him on base for 27 games. consecutively, but in the second inning, with the score 3-0, he entered with one out and 1st and 3rd base In his second at-bat, the opposing starter left, Kei, his sixth pitch, a 152 km fastball that came high inside, and went down. to avoid it and it fell on the spot. At that moment, his own elbow hit him, hurting his left side.

After that, he continued to play while taking painkillers, and on September 28, against Hiroshima (Mazda), where the team won the Premier League championship for the first time in four years, He had a great performance with four hits and three runs scored. . Although he started both games after the tournament was decided, he did not take a turn at bat, and in his eighth year as a professional, he played in all 143 games for the first time.

After the end of the regular season, they continued to make other schedule changes in preparation for participating in the CS, but on the 14th of this month, two days before the opening, Manager Abe said, “It looks like Naoki looks like he’s going to be. a little hard,” making him play six CS games without Yoshikawa Suggesting no. Without Yoshikawa, who had the heavy burden of playing “third and second base,” the batting line-up teetered on the edge of a precipice, scoring just two total points in three games CS, losing the first three games in a row.

Speaking to the media after the game, Yoshikawa said, “Yes, as long as I can watch practice,” he said, “I can move to a certain extent,” and “I want to contribute to the team “I’m working on it little by little, but I can’t do anything about this injury, so I’m just trying to prepare for the game,” he said, expressing his partial desire. to take

When asked about his teammates’ commitment to “wanting Naoki to win” and “getting Naoki to the Japan Series,” he replied with a shy smile, “I’ve never heard of it.”

“Everyone wants to win the game for everyone, and I was enthusiastic about the game as well, and when I was on the bench today, I felt the enthusiasm of Mr. Sakamoto and others other, so I feel it’s fast.”

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