The fourth game between Tohoku Rakuten Eagles and Orix Buffaloes will be held at Rakuten Eagles Mobile Saikyo Park Miyagi on April 10th at 6 PM.

[Head-to-head record] Tohoku Rakuten Eagles (4th place) vs. Orix Buffaloes (tied for 2nd place): 1 win, 2 losses

[Announced Starting Pitcher]
Tohoku Rakuten Eagles: pitcher Kosei Shoji, 2 games, 2 wins, 0 losses, ERA 1.80
Orix Buffaloes: pitcher Ryuhei Sotani, 21 games, 8 wins, 8 losses, 4.01 ERA (last season's record)

Tohoku Rakuten Eagles 's starting pitcher will be Kosei Shoji. In their previous encounter on March 27th, the opening game, he pitched well, throwing 105 pitches over 8 innings, allowing only 4 hit, no Hit by Pitch hit batsmen, strike out 9, and giving up no runs. In the following game against Saitama Seibu Lions on the 3rd, he pitched 7 innings, allowing only 3 runs, and has gotten off to a good start to the season with two wins in two starts. In his first home appearance of the season, he will be aiming for his third win with the passionate support of the fans behind him.

On the opposing side, Orix Buffaloes will have pitcher Ryuhei Sotani take mound as their starter. Since participating in the WBC, he has pitched in one exhibition game and two farm team games. In his last appearance (on the 2nd against Yokohama DeNA), he showed smooth progress, throwing 73 pitches over 5.2 innings, allowing 2 hit Walk strike out 4, and giving up 1 runs. This game will be his first appearance in seven days. We can expect to see a strong performance from this left-handed pitch who has grown through his experience on the big stage.

Written by Yui Kayama