◆Pre-season game Orix Buffaloes 2-0 Hiroshima (4th, Kyocera Dome Osaka)

Orix Buffaloes won the first game of the 2012 exhibition season with shutout game victory over Hiroshima. Yamashita, who is considered a candidate for the opening pitcher position along with Kuri, started the game and pitched five innings, allowing three hit and no runs, with two strike out. He showed his good condition by using a fastball with a top speed of 155 km/h, as well as a curveball, fork, and cutter. From the sixth inning, new foreign player Jerry showed solid pitch pitching four innings without allowing runs.

In the eighth inning, with neither team scoring, Kita, the first batter, walked, followed by Hirooka, who hit Walk to right field. Yamanaka then sacrifice bunt, and with one out and runners on second and third, Sugisawa hit a two-run triple to left-center field to score the winning run.