◆ Pacific League Rakuten Eagles: Rakuten vs. Nippon-Ham (5th, Rakuten Eagles Mobile)
Nippon-Ham infielder Kotaro Kiyomiya hit his first home run in three games.
With a one-run lead in the fifth inning on Castro's first pitch, full count to Rakuten Eagles caught a 149-kilometer straight that came in sweetly for the starter, Soji.
After hitting his seventh home run of the season, a solo shot over right field that extended the lead, he commented, "I hit fastball. I hit it so as not to be outdone by Katchan (Castro)."
![[Video] What?! A player is doing strength training during the match!!](https://hochi.news/images/2026/04/03/20260403-OHT1I51418-L.jpg)
![[Scoreboard] Rakuten Eagles vs. Nippon-Ham](/asset/img/news/source/logo_hochi.png){kind=logo}
![[Nippon-Ham] Castro hits his 5th solo home run to take the lead. On a great hit off Shoji's excellent pitching, he said, "I was able to handle breaking ball well."](https://hochi.news/images/2026/05/05/20260505-OHT1I51228-L.jpg)
![[Nippon-Ham] Castro hits his 5th solo home run to take the lead. On a great hit off Shoji's excellent pitching, he said, "I was able to handle breaking ball well."](https://hochi.news/images/2026/05/05/20260505-OHT1I51229-L.jpg)
![[Nippon-Ham] Lost after a comeback, ending their winning streak and dropping them to 5th place with a deficit of 3 games. Despite a good pitching performance Ren Fukushima gave up two home runs in the 8th inning and ran out of steam.](https://hochi.news/images/2026/05/04/20260504-OHT1I51434-L.jpg)
