◆Nippon Life Interleague Series 2026 Orix Buffaloes 7-5 Chunichi (31st, Kyocera Dome Osaka)

Orix Buffaloes Hiroshi pitcher (29) was calm. "I've thrown a lot of times in situations like this." Starting pitcher Takashima was pulled after a two-run lead and was pulled after 1 1/3 innings, still in a 1-and-3 inning crisis. Muramatsu hit a left-handed sacrifice fly, extending the lead to two runs, but Fukunaga flew out to center, minimizing the injury. He threw fewer than 10 pitches in bullpen, making an emergency appearance and putting two and a third of the innings into one runs, creating a comeback win. He earned his first win against his former team, Chunichi, and also achieved win of the Central League six teams.

He joined the Chunichi as the first overall pick in the 2017 draft. Back then, the 5,000-meter run was part of the schedule from the very first day of spring training, and there were days when he nearly collapsed from the grueling running regimen—six sets of “200 meters, 100 meters, 200 meters, 100 meters, 200 meters.”“There were even days when we couldn’t eat lunch until 3:00 p.m.,” he recalls. “It was tough, and even though we all complained, we gave it our all—that’s my fondest memory (laughs).” He passionately “repaid the debt” to the team that laid the foundation for his professional career.

From the fifth inning, Yamazaki pitched three scoreless runs, and in the eighth inning, Mukunoki retired the side in order for his league-leading 15th hold. Finally, Machado closed out the game with his 14th consecutive save, extending his own team record. The last of the relief pitchers to take the podium was Hiroshi, who, with a serious look in his eyes, expressed the feelings of all four players: "I'm Hiroshi. We will do our best to have more games like this, so please continue to support us tomorrow as well." This unwavering teamwork is the strength of Kishida's Orix Buffaloes. (Shunta Nanbu)