On 3 April, Chiba Lotte vs. Orix second round match in Zozo Marine Stadium ended in a 3-2 win for Orix.

Orix advanced runner into scoring position in the first, second and fourth innings, but were unable to take the lead. On the other hand, starter pitcher Espinoza retired three straight inning from the third inning closer the game went into the middle of the inning with both teams scoreless.

In the top of the sixth, Ryo Ota led off the inning with a two-out double on a hit and the opposing passed ball, and No. 1 draft pick rookie Yusuke Mugitani led off the inning with an RBI triple, his first professional hit RBI. Keita Nakagawa followed with an RBI single to make it 2-0. But in the bottom of the inning, Espinoza pitcher pinch-hit with one out and bases loaded on a two-Walk and Soto's two-run RBI single tied the game.

In the top of the eighth inning, Mugitani led off the inning with a Walk to load the bases. With two outs and the bases loaded, Ryoma Nishikawa hit an RBI single to score the winning run. Perdomo pitcher and Yoshihisa Hirano pitcher defended their one-goal lead as Orix won their third straight game. Nobuyoshi Yamada pitcher made his first win of the season in the third, and pitcher Hirano made his 250th career NPB save. The batting lineup with double-digit hit was led by Nishikawa with 3 hit 1 RBI and Ota with 3 hit.

Chiba Lotte lost back-to-back games for the first time this season. Starter Shuta Ishikawa pitcher was ejected in the middle of the second inning on a dangerous pitch, but sophomore Shuta Takano pitcher struggled with 3.2 runs innings. Soto exhaled 2 hit 2 RBI

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O 000002010 3
Ro 000002000 2

O Espinoza-Hiroshi-Nobuyoshi Yamada-Perdomo-S Yoshihisa Hirano
Shuta Ishikawa-Shuta Takano-Rikuto Yokoyama-Shota Suzuki- Guerrero -Riku Kikuchi

Text by Ayako Kikuchi

・ Match details/video