◆Exhibition game Orix Buffaloes 2-6 Hanshin Tigers (March 20, Kyocera Dome Osaka)

Orix Buffaloes lost the first game of their three-game series against Hanshin Tigers in a come-from-behind defeat. Yamashita, a 161 km/h right-hander who was scheduled to start, was held back from pitching to prioritize his conditioning. Draft pick #5 Takaya (Hokkai Gakuen University) took over as starter and was hit hard by Hanshin Tigers lineup in the second inning while Orix was leading by one run.

After giving up Walk to Nakagawa with one out, he allowed consecutive hits to Oyama and Takadera, creating a bases loaded situation. He then gave up a game-tying hit to Obata, followed by a two-run go-ahead hit to Sakamoto, and a single to Chikamoto, before being pulled from the game after 1 1/3 innings, having given up 5 hit and 4 runs.

"Overall, my pitching was mostly about throwing balls, and I think my pitching after allowing runner on base is something I need to work on. If I could have landed my finishing pitch properly, there were times when I could have gotten the batter out, so I need to improve the accuracy of my pitches after getting ahead in the count," he reflected. After that, the second pitcher, Higashimatsu, got through 2/3 of an inning without allowing runs. From the third inning, the third pitcher, Teranishi, runs in 5 innings. In the 8th inning, the fourth pitcher, Yoshida, and in the 9th inning, the fifth pitcher, Furushima, both closer the opposing team runs.

In the first inning, the offense scored first with sacrifice fly by Nishikawa with one out and a runner on third. In the second inning, immediately after giving up the lead, they scored one run with sacrifice fly to center field by Kurebayashi with one out and runners on second and third, but the comeback ended there.