◆パ・リーグ　ソフトバンク５―０楽天（２日・みずほペイペイドーム）

Rakuten Eagles The third overall draft pick of the Akira Shigenaga infielder (23) = Chūdai University made his first-team debut against Softbank Hawks

He came in as a pinch hitter at the top of the ninth inning, trailing by five runs. Shigenaga, who was promoted to the first team that day, reacted to the first pitch, a fastball, thrown by Kamichatani. He took an aggressive approach, but his first professional at-bat resulted in a fly out to center field. The rookie from Fukuoka reflected, "The cheers were incredible. First of all, I was prepared to swing at the first pitch. Whether I could make contact or not is a matter of technique, so I want to work on that."