◆ Pacific League Softbank Hawks 2-3 Rakuten Eagles (14th, Mizuho PayPay Dome)

Second-placed Rakuten Eagles came from behind to win the first game of the three-game series, narrowing the gap with first-placed Softbank Hawks to 1.5 games.

The batting lineup caught up in the 5th inning, trailing by one run, with Tatsumi's 11th consecutive hit and timely doble, and then, with two outs bases loaded, Yoshihito Watanabe's infield hit got them on the board.

Starter Shoji got off to a good start by not allowing a single runner until the 3rd inning, but in the 4th inning, he made it 2 runs with a Walk to Yanagimachi. Still, he survived the 5th inning immediately after the teammates' batting line reversed with a runs and passed the baton to the follow-up with the right to win pitcher. After the 6th inning, he escaped with a relay pitch. Shoji has win three consecutive games since the opening game on March 27th. The winning streak in all three games since the opening pitcher will be the third and fourth time for the club since Iwakuma in 11 and Norimoto in 16 and 20.