◆ Pacific League Rakuten Eagles 2-12 Nippon-Ham (June 6th, Rakuten Eagles Mobile is the strongest)

Rakuten Eagles suffered a come-from-behind loss to Nippon-Ham, ending their three-game winning streak. Their relief pitchers faltered, resulting in a season-worst 12-runs defeat.

The early part was pitcher battle. Rakuten Eagles starting pitcher is Ken Maeda, aiming for his first win since returning to NPB. In the first inning, he got the leadoff Castro to grounder to short, but Gunji then swung struck out. He got Yuki Kiyomiya out to grounder to second and closer runs the scoreline.

In the fifth inning with a one-run lead, Ken Maeda found himself in a crisis. hit and 2 Walk with no deaths bases loaded. During Mannami's groundout to second double play, third base runner scored, tying the game. Still, with two outs and a runner on third, Mizuno grounded out to first. At least runs was enough to get by. He threw 82 pitches in 5 inning and was taken out after 3 hit, 2 Walk, and 1 runs. With the score tied, mound was dropped, and once again, his first win at his new club was postponed. Manager Miki commented on veteran pitch, saying, "There were times when we allowed grounders at key moments and got a solid double play. He managed to hold on until the fifth inning. He said, "I got the impression that there were a lot of balls that didn't quite fit my style," he said.

With the score tied and the game going to the end, the relief couldn't hold up. From the sixth inning, he was relieved to pitch. Uchi, who came in as the second pitcher, was replaced with two outs and a runner on first. Third pitcher Song allowed Reyes and Nomura to hit consecutive RBI hits to give the team a two-run lead. Then, in the eighth inning, Sho Watanabe hit a 5-runs. Nakagome also gave up a three-run homer to Hosokawa, extending the lead. The manager, who decided to start the rotation from the sixth inning after comprehensively considering the pitch of starting Ken Maeda, said, "Substitutions for pitcher are always difficult, I think it's the hardest part. Of course, there are reasons for the relievers, but in the end, the fact that the starter was replaced and ended up like this is not so much about the players but my own issue. It's the director's responsibility. The players said that what happened today, including Kenta Maeda, will surely be used as a source of sustenance for the future," he said, defending the players.

The batting lineup was unable to overcome Nippon-Ham 's Ito, and the team suffered a crushing defeat, ending their winning streak.