◆ Pacific League Nippon-Ham 7-4 Lotte (24th, ES CON FIELD)

Lotte suffered two consecutive losses as their pitching and hitting failed to come together, bringing their winning percentage down to 50%.

Kawamura, who started for the first time since the April 10 game against Seibu Lions (Omiya), gave up 3 Home Run through 5 innings and went 9 hit 6 runs. There was no runs due to lack of support, and only 1 inning was twice missed. "While protecting the opponent, I home run. I feel sorry for letting the opponent do what they wanted, and for letting the match unfold like this," he said.

The offense showed some fighting spirit, with pinch-hitter Polanco hitting a two-run homer in the seventh inning when they were trailing by six runs, and scoring two runs each in the seventh and eighth innings, but it was too late. Manager Saburo lamented, "Ultimately, if we don't hit, it just gets harder on the starting pitcher, so although we were able to score runs in the later innings, if we can't score in the early innings, I want pitcher and the offense to help each other out."

Regarding Kawamura, who was making his second start of the season, the coach did not criticize him, saying, "He gave up a lot of extra-base hits, but he wasn't bad. He wasn't bad, so I let him pitch until the fifth inning."