On March 11th, the open match between Tohoku Rakuten Eagles and Hokkaido Nippon-Ham held at Shizuoka Kusanagi Stadium was win by Hokkaido Nippon-Ham 3-1.

Hokkaido Nippon-Ham showed off a pitch that starter Takayuki Kato pitcher was not in danger. Even though he allowed hit, he calmly hit the follow-up and threw 5 innings, scattering 4 hit no walks, Hit by Pitch 4 strike out runs no runs. 2nd place, Taisho Tamai pitcher also retired in the first inning with 3 outs. 3rd place Fukuya Yamazaki pitcher also threw 1 inning and retired 3 in just 6 pitches.

The batting line is only 2 hit after 7 innings. However, in the top of the 8th inning, when lead player Haruki Nishikawa received a Hit by Pitch, Castro followed with a two-run shot into the left stand. The balance of the game is broken in the open match No. 3. In the top of the ninth, Taiki Narama scored the third run with a timely hit.

In the bottom of the ninth, Kyosuke Kuroyanagi pitcher was in a pinch with a four-Hit by Pitch and scored one run, but they struggled to keep the lead and Hokkaido Nippon-Ham won three straight open games. Tohoku Rakuten Eagles, who lost, started rookie Satoshi Fujiwara pitcher pitched 5 innings without runs. The batting line scored one run in the bottom of the ninth inning with a timely hit by Fumiya Kurokawa, but the counterattack was not enough.

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Day 000000021 3
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Sun Takayuki Kato-Taisho Tamai- ○ Fukuya Yamazaki - Hiroya Shimamoto - S Kyosuke Kuroyanagi
Raku Satohiro Fujiwara -Katsutoshi Tai-● Ru Kutani -Uchi Seiryu- Chiharu Tanaka

Text by Ayako Kikuchi