◆Pre-season Rakuten Eagles 1-2 Nippon-Ham (12th, Shizuoka)

Rakuten Eagles pitcher Naoto Nishiguchi (29), who is trying to return to the starting lineup, gave up four hit two runs in five innings. His fastest pitch was measured at 149 km/h.

Although he faced seven hitter and threw 34 pitches in the first inning, giving up two runs, he struck out all three batters in each of the second, third, and fourth innings, and reflected, "The first inning wasn't very good. From the second inning onwards, I was able to get my pitching power back up, so next time I'll try to keep that power up from the first inning onwards."

In the 5th inning, I gave up a right-handed hit to Kamikawahata in the top of the inning, but hit the next Yamagata with a straight ball double play for a double change-up and the next Yazawa with a double mound on 77 pitches. "I tried to pitch make the most of straight balls while mixing breaking ball. strike I think the fact that I was able to do it ahead of time was the reason why I was able to beat the hitters," he analyzed.

Manager Miki called for more stability, saying, "He ended up giving up two runs, but he's a starting pitcher. I guess a lot of things are expected of him."