◆ Pacific League 3-4 Softbank Hawks (May 5th, ZOZO Marine Stadium)

Softbank Hawks defeated Lotte in two consecutive games, securing their first three-series wins at the start of the season in two years.

In the first inning, with two outs, Nishikawa was hit by a Hit by Pitch and stolen base second base. A subsequent infield hit by Polanco allowed runner to score, giving up the first run of the game.

Nevertheless, starting pitcher Carter Stewart threw the ball at a good tempo, keeping the opposing team scoreless in the second and third innings. In the fourth inning, he faced a dangerous situation with runners on second and third with no runs, but managed to get out of it with minimal runs.

With no outs in the 5th inning from first and third with two outs, Kurihara hit a sacrifice fly to left to win the game, and with two outs and a runner on third, Imamiya hit his second of the day, a timely hit to left to score another run.

After Carter left the game after giving up two runs in six innings, Kamichatani and Matsumoto Yu took over and held onto the lead.