On May 31st at 1:00 PM, the third game of the "Nippon Life Interleague Series 2026" between Tohoku Rakuten Eagles and Tokyo Yakult will be held at Rakuten Eagles Mobile Saikyo Park Miyagi.

[Head-to-head record] Tohoku Rakuten Eagles (Pacific League, 6th place) vs. Tokyo Yakult (Central League, tied for 1st place): 0 wins, 2 losses

[Announced Starting Pitcher]
Tohoku Rakuten Eagles: pitcher Masaru Fujii 4 games, 1 win, 1 loss, ERA 2.95
Tokyo Yakult: Yasunobu Okugawa, pitcher 7 games, 1 win, 4 losses, 3.18 ERA

Tohoku Rakuten Eagles will start pitcher Masaru Fujii. In his previous start (against Chiba Lotte Marines on the 24th), he earned his first win of the season with a quality start, pitching 6.1 innings, throwing 112 pitches, allowing 11 hit, no Hit by Pitch strike out giving up 3 runs (2 earned runs). This will be his first time facing Tokyo Yakult, so the question is whether he can contain the powerful Swallows lineup.

In the batting lineup, keep an eye on Daisuke Nakashima. Although he performed well throughout last season, he has been in a batting slump since the start of this season, with a monthly batting average of .203 in April. However, in May he has shown signs of recovery with 11 At Bat 42 hit, for a monthly batting average of .262. Can he regain his form during the interleague games?

Written by Aoi Nishijima