WBC warm-up match: Orix Buffaloes 4-3 Japan (2nd, Kyocera Dome Osaka)

Orix Buffaloes put on a great performance in both pitching and batting, and won a comfortable victory over Ibata Japan, who are aiming for a consecutive world championship. In response to this result, Orix Buffaloes fans were in a frenzy on social media. "This is bad, if they keep going like this, Orix Buffaloes will become the world's best," "Orix Buffaloes is really strong, they deserve to be the world's best," "So Orix Buffaloes is the world's best," "Orix Buffaloes is strong...!? lol," and other joyous comments were flooded in.

The momentum was brought about by second-year right-hander Teranishi, who is aiming to make the opening rotation. He took on Otani head-on, jamming him with a 151 km/h fastball and striking him out to left field. He pitched two perfect innings with three strike out, anchored by his 153 km/h fastball. Tajima took over as second reliever from the third inning and also pitch two perfect innings. In the fifth inning, third reliever Kuri gave up a huge solo home run to Yoshida into the fifth floor of the right field stands, giving up one run, but the team managed to keep the score to one runs in two innings. In the seventh inning, fourth reliever Iriyama pitched one scoreless runs. He gave up one runs in the ninth inning, but managed to hold on to the lead.

In the first inning, starting pitcher Kikuchi's batting line-up got a 3-run lead thanks to Sugimoto's timely hit to center field, Moritomo's timely hit to right field, and a combined error by the opposing team. In the fifth inning, Mugiya hit a timely hit to left field off Taneichi to snatch the fourth run. This was a big win for the team, which is aiming to regain its dominance for the first time in three years. Furthermore, RBI RBI from former Orix Buffaloes Yoshida and current Orix Buffaloes player Wakatsuki. It was a day of energy for the Orix players at Kyocera Dome.