◆ Pacific League Nippon-Ham 4-0 Lotte (23rd, ES CON FIELD)

Lotte, who had been on a three-game winning streak, suffered a crushing defeat against Nippon-Ham as their pitching and hitting failed to come together, missing out on a fourth consecutive win and dropping their lead to just one game above .500.

Starting pitcher Koshichiro Hiroike (23) quickly recorded two outs in the first inning, striking out the second batter, Otsuka, with a struck out that was his fastest of the day at 153 km/h, but then gave up a solo home run to the third batter, Reyes, his 16th of the season, giving up a crucial early run. In the third inning, he gave up another solo home run to the eighth batter, Shindo, his second of the season, and then, with one out and a runner on second, gave up a timely triple to Otsuka that went over the center fielder's head.

In the fourth inning, second baseman Ogawa and first baseman Ikeda played well in defense. With two outs, Yazawa gave up a triple to right-center field, but he pulled through the previous at-bat by getting Shindo off on a grounder to third by giving up a Home Run in his previous at-bat. He was hit by hit five or six times, pitch carrying runner, but Hiroike held firm and couldn't runs. Despite giving up 8 hit over 8 pitches over 6 innings, he finished with a 3-runs no walk and cleared a quality start (QS = 6 innings or more, 3 earned runs or less), showing resilience but was pulled without earning his third win.

The batting lineup was silenced by Nippon-Ham starting pitcher, Kitayama. He pitched a perfect pitch through the first two innings, not allowing a single runner to reach base. In the third inning, Ueda hit a single to right hit with one out for the team's first hit, but the following batters were retired. The fourth and fifth innings also ended with three batters retired in order, and although Ogawa hit a single to center hit in the sixth inning, it wasn't enough to carry the momentum.

In the 8th inning, reliever Castillo took the mound, but Shindo hit a doble that struck third base, and Yamagata's bunt was ruled an infield single on a hit, putting runners on first and third with no outs. Mizuno then executed squeeze play, extending the lead to four runs. In the 8th inning, leadoff hitter Yamaguchi singled to left hit, but the next batter, pinch hitter Yasuda, grounded into a double play play.