◆ Pacific League Nippon-Ham 4-3 Softbank Hawks (19th, ES CON FIELD)

Softbank Hawks suffered a come-from-behind loss, ending their eight-game winning streak against Nippon-Ham since the start of the season. They took the lead in the fourth inning with a two-run RBI single by Soichiro Ishizuka after trailing by one run, but Nippon Ham scored two runs in the bottom of the inning to regain the lead.

Manager Kokubo said, "After scoring two runs and taking the lead, on the inning. That bat at Mannami's spot was right there. Including Unno," he said, citing the moment in the fourth inning with two outs and runners on first and second and Chusei Mannami a sweet fastball hit to center field with one ball, two strike, and a sweet tying the game as the cause of the loss. It was a wasteful shot since he was able to lure it with a breaking ball that still turned into a ball. "I've said up to 1-2. That's the key point today. (Because the opponent pitcher is good) they can't score that many points," he pointed out. Regarding his first loss on a card game, he didn't pay much attention to it, saying, "That's not true at all."