◆ Pacific League: Lotte 7-4 Rakuten Eagles (21st, ZOZO Marine Stadium)

Rakuten Eagles suffered their sixth five-game losing streak of the season, despite a late-game comeback attempt. Starting pitcher Masaru Fujii was knocked out of the game after giving up three hit Walk two runs in the first inning. New manager Masato Yoshii made a determined move to relievers from the second inning, but in the eighth inning, with the score tied, pitcher Ren Kajiya gave up a game-winning two-run homer to Yamaguchi. His first win since taking over as manager was put on hold, and the team's deficit swelled to a season-worst 19 games.

They lost momentum early on. Fujii was a miscalculation. It was right after they took an early lead in the first inning with a timely triple by McCusker. hit and Walk put them in a jam with two outs and runners on first and second base, and then Sato hit a timely single to right field, tying the game.

Furthermore, Yamaguchi hit a two-doble deep into right-center field. This marked the fifth consecutive game in which runs in the first inning, exposing their poor start to the game.

Manager Yoshii started from the second inning as the second pitcher and brought in the inside inners. 3 inning for 1 runs. In the fifth inning, he sent the first pick Fujiwara and went one inning without runs. Sho Suzuki got through the sixth inning, and Nakagome got through the seventh without runs.

The offense showed some fighting spirit in the 8th inning when Asamura hit a two-run doble to tie the game, but in the bottom of the inning, Kajiya gave up three runs, including a two-run homer to Yamaguchi, allowing the opposing team to take the lead.

At his inaugural press conference on the 17th, manager Yoshii expressed his strong determination for the series against Lotte, the team he managed until last season, saying, "I want to go into it with the feeling that I'm going to beat them as the enemy." However, after the second game on the 20th was canceled due to rain, the team suffered two straight losses in the series.