Rakuten Eagles defeated Seibu Lions extra inning walk-off 8-7. Although he didn't earn a win, Takahisa Hayakawa shone with a strong pitching performance, earned runs pitching 4 runs over 7 innings, 2 strike out 10 and 2 to 10.

Masaki Saito, who served as a commentator on the CS Fuji TV ONE program “Pro baseball News” aired on the 22nd, praised the performance highly, saying, “I think I was actually better than Taira (Kaima) pitcher. Sure, home run he gave up two hits, but other than that, it was almost perfect. His cut fastballs and slider were really sharp, too.” pitch

Another commentator, Toshiaki Imae, highly praised him, saying, "I think he was pitching at his best today. He was able to quickly push the ball and set up his count with a simple and straightforward approach." While expressing concern that the current pitch and his wins don't match, he said, "I've been pitching well lately, and today I was about to get a win... Normally, I'd be pitching a bit more than I could have gotten a win, but that's a balancing matter. I hope he can pitch again in a way that can lead to victory," he said, expressing his hope for continued wins.

☆ Cooperation: Fuji TV ONE "Professional baseball News 2026"