On the 16th, the Lotte Marines announced that pitcher Shuta Ishikawa will start in the game against The Giants on the 17th (Naha, Okinawa). Ishikawa said, "Things have been going well so far, and I feel good, so I would like to perform even better on mound in a real game. I have some breaking ball that I feel are accurate and I would like to hone those in real games. I want to pitch with all my might."

The right-handed pitcher, who joined the team as a free agent from Softbank Hawks in the offseason of 2012, pitched in 19 games last season, finishing with a poor record of 4 wins and 7 losses and ERA of 4.62. Eager for revenge this season, he expressed his fighting spirit, saying, "Playing in a real game at this timing will help me understand where I am now. One thing is to understand what kind of performance I can give within the flow of the game and my sense of the game. I also want to focus on results. I want to produce something that will make the people watching think, 'I'm in good shape,' and I have to do that. The manager has said it's a competition, so I'll keep that in mind and throw in a way that will help me get solid results."