◆ Pacific League Seibu Lions 6-1 Rakuten Eagles (October 10, Belluna Dome)

Rakuten Eagles suffered a three-game sweep against Seibu Lions, extending their losing streak to four games.

It was Mother's Day that day. In the first at-bat, four of the nine fielder starting line-up players were using pink bats. In addition to their bats, each player had incorporated pink into spike or wristbands to express their gratitude to their mothers.

Starting pitcher Ryota Takinaka, who was aiming for his third win of the season, pitched 1 2/3 innings, giving up 3 hit 2 runs. He was pulled from the game in the middle of the second inning, his worst outing of the season.

In the first inning, he hit the leadoff batter, Hasegawa, with Hit by Pitch, and after getting two outs, he gave up the first run when Nevin hit a 143 km/h fastball over the right field fence for a timely doble. He then hit the next batter, An-Ko Lin with Hit by Pitch, showing that his control was erratic from the start of the inning.

With one out bases loaded in the second inning, 0-1, Nishikawa hit a sacrifice fly inside the middle to score the second run. Tsuruzaki, who came in second immediately after, went up mound and was replaced after 38 pitches. Manager Miki had a grim look on his face on the bench.

In the third inning, with the score 0-2, Fujii made his first relief appearance in 943 days, since the game against Lotte on October 10, 2023 (Rakuten Eagles Mobile). On the third pitch he threw to Nevin, the leadoff batter of the inning, a 135 km/h breaking ball was hit into the left field stands, giving up a run right away.

In the fourth inning, trailing 0-3, they walked the leadoff batter Takizawa, and with one out and a runner on second, Nishikawa hit slider into the right field stands, extending the lead to five runs.

Tanaka Chihiro took mound in the sixth inning. Fujii mixed in slider and sinkers with his fastest fastball reaching 142 km/h, pitching a long relief appearance of 50 pitches over three innings. He gave up hit three runs.

The offense managed to score one run in the fifth inning with a timely single to left field by pinch hitter Ota, but that was the extent of their comeback.

After a day off on the 11th, they will face Orix Buffaloes Buffaloes in Hirosaki on the 12th.