The second game between Tohoku Rakuten Eagles and Hokkaido Nippon-Ham will be held at Rakuten Eagles Mobile Saikyo Park Miyagi on April 8th at 6 PM.

[Head-to-head record] Tohoku Rakuten Eagles (2nd place) vs. Hokkaido Nippon-Ham (tied for 3rd place): 1 win, 0 losses

[Announced Starting Pitcher]
Tohoku Rakuten Eagles: pitcher Tatsuki Koja, 1 game, 0 wins, 1 loss, ERA 8.44
Hokkaido Nippon-Ham: pitcher Koki Kitayama 1 game, 0 wins, 1 loss, ERA 6.35

Tohoku Rakuten Eagles 's starting pitcher is Tatsuki Koja. In his last start (on the 1st against Fukuoka Softbank), he gave up 10 hit, 1 Walk 4 strike out 5.1 innings, resulting in runs. Furthermore, he struggled against Hokkaido Nippon-Ham last season, going 0-1 with ERA of 6.14 in 2 games, so there are high expectations for a brilliant performance from him in this game to erase those past struggles.

Facing them is Hokkaido Nippon-Ham 's starting pitcher Koki Kitayama. In his last start (on the 1st against Chiba Lotte Marines), he gave up 3 hit, 1 Walk 6 strike out in 5.2 innings, resulting in runs. Nevertheless, he had a good record against Tohoku Rakuten Eagles last season, going 2-1 with a 0.95 ERA in 3 games. He will be looking to pitch well in this game as well and lead his team to win. In the batting lineup, Tatsuki Mizuno is on a 5-game hit streak. He also seems to have a good affinity for the stadium, having posted a .326 batting average at Tohoku Rakuten Eagles 's home stadium last season.

Written by Riyoko Niwa