◆Pre-season game Softbank Hawks 4x-3 Yakult (3rd, Mizuho PayPay)

Softbank Hawks 's Hikaru Kimura took the mound from the fifth inning in second place and closer the second inning perfect. It was a good pitch with a sharp straight and breaking ball and 4 strike out. "The good thing is that I want to throw in a winning pattern, so I'm sticking to the results from the open game," the 25-year-old right-hander said as he looked ahead.

Last season, Fujii, Matsumoto Yutaka, and Sugiyama pitched the final three inning of winning games. However, Fujii is out for the season after undergoing right elbow surgery, and there are concerns about Matsumoto Yutaka's ability to adjust to the opening game of the season. Manager Kokubo praised Hikaru, saying, "Hikari was incredibly good." Regarding the possibility of using him in the final innings of winning games, he was positive, saying, "He's a candidate, given his current condition."