On October 15th, the "23rd Miyazaki Phoenix League" game between Tokyo Yakult and Fukuoka Softbank was held at Saitobaru Exercise Park ball park, and Fukuoka Softbank lost 2 to 3.

Starting pitcher Jun Maeda pitched four innings allowing two hits and one Walk with no runs. However, in the bottom of the 5th, he gave up two runs, including a go-ahead RBI hit to Nikita Moiseev, and in the bottom of the 6th when the score was tied again, he allowed another go-ahead RBI hit. Pitcher Jun Maeda left the mound after 6 innings, 103 pitches, 8 hits, 2 Walks, and 3 runs.

The lineup responded in the top of the 6th immediately after falling behind by two runs; with the bases loaded and one out, Yuto Akihiro drew a bases-loaded Walk, followed by an RBI hit from the developmental 7th-round rookie, Emil. Although they caught up to a tie, they struggled to put runners on base after that. In the top of the 9th, they gained a chance with runners on 1st and 3rd with two outs due to a Walk and a Hit by Pitch, but the following batter was retired, ending the game.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Total
H 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2
S 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 X 3

H Jun Maeda-Fuga Otake
S Shota Masui-Hyuga Takeyama-Yuki Ishihara-Kosuke Sakaguchi-Kota Shoji

Text by Minagi Niwa