On 9 March, the opening match between Chiba Lotte and Fukuoka Softbank in Zozo Marine Stadium ended in a 5-5 draw.

Chiba Lotte will start with new signing pitcher Sammons. In the first inning, with one out and the bases loaded, Yuki Yanagita doble allowed a teammate's error to take the lead. In the top of the second inning, Tomoya Masaki hit a solo shot for the second time, and in the top of the third, he hit two RBI singles to make it runs three. He threw 67 pitches in three innings, hit 6 Walk 1 strike out 4 runs (earned runs 3).

The offense scored one run in the bottom of the fourth on Polanco's solo homer. In the bottom of the sixth, Soto and Eito Takabe hit back-to-back singles by Polanco from first and second base with no outs, and then with one out and one out, Hiromi Oka 's RBI single from third base closed the gap to one run. With one out and runners on first and second base, Ryusei Miyazaki hit a two-run RBI doble to complete the comeback.

However, in the top of the eighth inning, with two outs and Riku Kikuchi in the fourth, his teammate bad throw got involved in the infield hit and put runner on second base, and Masaki hit an RBI single to tie the game. They wanted to win the game, but they retired three batters in the bottom of the eighth inning and loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, but couldn't get one more out, and the game ended 5-5.

In Chiba Lotte, Polanco made his presence felt with a 2-hit 2-RBI, Takabe hit 2, and Miyazaki, a rookie in the Dora 2, made his presence felt with a two-point doble that was a temporary comeback.

On the other hand, Fukuoka Softbank starter Nao Higashihama pitcher allowed 3 hit no walks in 4 innings on 58 pitches Hit by Pitch 4 strike out 1 runs. In the batting lineup, Masaki recorded 2 hit 2 RBI, including Kensuke Kondo and Ryoya Kurihara RBI hit 1 .

123456789 total
S 112000010 5
Ro 000104000 5

Soviet Nao Higashihama-Hernandez-Yuki Matsumoto-Hikaru Kimura-Koya Fujii-Yuki Tsumori
Ro Summons -Yuki Karakawa-Takahiro Nishimura-Riku Kikuchi-Rikuto Yokoyama

Text by Aoi Yokoyama

・ Match details/video