◆ Pacific League Softbank Hawks 6-5 Nippon-Ham (27th, Mizuho PayPay Stadium)

Nippon-Ham pitcher Hiromi Ito was pulled from the game in the middle of the sixth inning after giving up nine hit and five runs, while strike out four. He was not charged with losing pitcher, but he was unable to hold the lead, and he reflected, "I think I gave up a bit too many hits, but they were able to hit the ball well when it was a bit too easy to hit at crucial moments."

In the first inning, home runs by Kiyomiya Yuki and Manami gave them a three-run lead, but in the second inning, with one out and a runner on first, Kurihara hit a two-run homer to left-center field, narrowing the lead to one run.

In the third inning, he gave up a game-tying solo home run to Kondo, who was his teammate in the WBC. In the fourth inning, immediately after taking the lead with an RBI single by Tamiya, he allowed another game-tying solo home run to Yamakawa, who was hit into the left field stands, giving up a total of three home runs.

Still, in the fourth inning, with two outs and runners on first and second due to a teammate's fielder’s choice, he struck out let Shuto go. In the fifth inning, with two outs and a runner on first, he got Yamakawa struck out swinging with a fastball of 149 km/h, showing his true style. However, in the sixth inning, with two outs and no runner, they gave up consecutive doble to Unno and Dai Makihara, and after losing the lead for the first time in the game, they dropped the mound.

He returned from the WBC and had about 10 days to adjust. "I feel like I'm getting better day by day, or rather, I'm getting back to normal. If I had closer well, I think we could have won that game, so I'm sorry about that. It's a long season, so I want to prepare so that I can pitch well in the next 20 or so appearances," he said.