◆ Pacific League: Rakuten Eagles vs. Softbank Hawks (17th, Rakuten Eagles Mobile Saikyo Park Miyagi)
Softbank Hawks 's starting line-up has been announced, outfielder Tomoya Masaki, who batted leadoff for the first time in his professional career in the game against Rakuten Eagles the previous day (16th), will play as the leadoff hitter and first baseman in this game as well. They will be looking to score the first run and take control of the game in order to avoid their first three-game sweep against the same opponent this season.
The starting pitcher will be Yugo Maeda. He will be aiming for a second consecutive win at this stadium, where he earned his first professional win on July 13th last season.
The following is Softbank Hawks 's starting line-up.
1 (1) Masaki
2 (2) Makihara Dai
3 (left) Yanagida
4 (3) Kurihara
5 (DH) Yamakawa
6 (Right) Megumi Yamamoto
7 (Catcher) Yu Yamamoto
8 (Center) Shuto
9 (play) Shoko
(Pitcher) Yu Maeda
![[Photo] Aya Ueto looks stunning! A gorgeous first pitch ceremony](https://hochi.news/assets/v2/img/hochi_news_sns.png)
![[Scoreboard] Rakuten Eagles vs. Softbank Hawks](/asset/img/news/source/logo_hochi.png){kind=logo}
![[Softbank Hawks] Kensuke Kondo removed from the active roster under special bereavement leave to attend the wake and funeral of his older brother, Yosuke, who passed away on the 6th at the age of 38. This is the second instance of this rule being applied this season, following Hiroshi Kondo of the Orix Buffaloes Buffaloes.](https://hochi.news/images/2026/05/17/20260517-OHT1I51117-L.jpg)
![[Softbank Hawks] Yuta Yamamoto, who joined the team in a trade from DeNA, hits multiple singles, including his first hit since joining the team. "I'm relieved."](https://hochi.news/images/2026/05/16/20260516-OHT1I51381-L.jpg)
![[Softbank Hawks] Suffering their first four-game losing streak of the season, they are now one game below .500 and have fallen to fourth place. Manager Hiroki Kokubo: "It seems difficult to have a big winning streak right now... We need to make sure we don't let things spiral further downhill."](https://hochi.news/images/2026/05/16/20260516-OHT1I51346-L.jpg)
