The Nippon Seimei Central-Pa Exchange Game 2026 Hanshin Tigers 1-0 Rakuten Eagles (6th, Koshien)

Rakuten Eagles pitcher Takahisa Hayakawa (27) pitched well, allowing only 5 hit and 1 runs while striking strike out 6 innings, but suffered his second loss of the season.

The starting left-hander carefully switched to the course and cooked hitter. They closer runs scoreless through the fourth inning, but the game was moved in the fifth inning with neither team scoring. He gave the leadoff Kumagai a Walk, causing a one-out, runner-on-second crisis, and then allowed Kumagai to steal third with runner on second. With one out and a runner on third, he gave up a timely single to left field to Tateishi, giving up the lead. He threw 107 pitches in 6 inning to finish the runs 1, but with no run from the lineup, he suffered his second loss of the season. "I regret the Walk at the start of the runs inning. Since we threw more pitches from the start, I want to fix it next time," he looked back on with frustration.