On 18 March, the opening match between Yokohama DeNA and Orix in Yokohama Stadium ended in a 4-9 loss to Orix.

Orix starter pitcher Espinoza was runs without a runner until the second inning. However, in the bottom of the third inning, with runners on second Walk and hit and one out, bases loaded loaded the bases with one out, Yoshitomo Tsutsuka hit an RBI infield hit to take the lead. Still, he threw five innings on 100 pitches, 5 hit 3 Walk 1 runs and let the relievers take care of the rest.

In the bottom of the sixth, Kaisei Tomatsu pitcher took the mound, but gave up four runs on timely hits by Masashi Kuwahara and others. In the bottom of the seventh, Seiryu Kotajima pitcher gave up three runs, including an RBI doble by Yota Kyoda, and was removed with only one out. His substitute, Ryoga Tomiyama pitcher, was unable to stop the momentum of the opposing batting line, and the score was extended to 0-9.

In the top of the eighth inning, leadoff hitter Masahiro Nishino reached base on a infield hit single. Substitute runner Haruto Watanabe advanced on a infield grounder and a wild pitch to load the bases with two outs. Again, while opposing pitcher threw a wild pitch, he stole home plate.
　
In the bottom of the eighth, Yoshihisa Hirano pitcher loaded the bases with two outs and bases loaded, but no runs. In the top of the ninth, Kotaro Kobayashi and Ryo Ota loaded the bases with two outs on hit and scored two runs on Watanabe's RBI triple. Sho Fukunaga followed with timely strikes, but that was the end of the fightback. Orix lost 4-9. Espinoza pitcher pitched five 1-runs innings to show off his smooth adjustments. Kobayashi and Ota scored 2 hit.

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O 000000013 4
De 00100440X 9

Espinoza -Kaisei Tomatsu-Seiryu Kotajima-Ryoga Tomiyama-Yoshihisa Hirano
○ Jackson-Masaki Iwata-Masumi Hamaji-Torahiro Nakagawa-Hayato Horioka-Yasuaki Yamazaki

Text by Hiroki Yashima