◆Pre-season game Softbank Hawks 0-1 The Giants (12th, Mizuho PayPay Dome)

Softbank Hawks 's Uesawa showed his consistency. He gave up an RBI single to Dalbec with one out and a runner on second base in the second inning, but there were no issues with the power of his pitches or the sharpness of breaking ball. "I threw more pitches than last time, but my output didn't drop much," he said, throwing 90 pitches in 6 2/3 innings and allowing only one runs.

He will be the opening pitcher for the third time in his career on the 27th against Nippon-Ham Fighters (Mizuho PayPay). He was win (one loss) in the opening games of 2019 and 2021 with Nippon-Ham Fighters, and said, "The most important thing is whether I can go out there with confidence. I want to value the process." On this day, he freely controlled fork, "trying different pitches, like pinching it in or making it shallow," and produced a large number of strikeouts. Of strike out, six were on falling balls, and he expressed confidence, saying, "I hope I can change it to suit the situation and hitter 's swing."

Arihara, who pitched 14 wins and 175 inning last season, has been transferred to Nippon-Ham. With the starting pitchers holding the key to the team's third consecutive league championship, manager Kokubo also expressed his expectations, saying, "I think all of his pitches were highly accurate." After his first opening win, he will lead The Hawks at the forefront in 2026. (Moriguchi Noboru)