◆ Pacific League Softbank Hawks 5-2 Orix Buffaloes (25th, Mizuho PayPay Dome)
Softbank Hawks secured their second consecutive series win. Draft pick #3, pitcher Gota Suzuki, delivered a strong relief performance. He became only the third rookie in history, after Otsu (Softbank Hawks) in 2023, to record his first professional win on a single pitch.
Go Suzuki took the mound as the second reliever with the score tied 2-2 in the sixth inning with one out bases loaded and successfully got out of the jam. He retired Wakatsuki on a groundout to second on the first pitch double play.
In the subsequent inning, with two outs and bases loaded, Shoji hit a two-run single to center field. This gave them a three-run lead and earned him the right to be win pitcher. From the seventh inning onwards, Osuna, Matsumoto Yu, and Sugiyama, the team's winning pattern, held on for the win. They closed the gap to just 1.5 games behind the league-leading Seibu Lions.
![[Photo] Former idol wife and husband are a "giant athlete" and are very much in love! "Thank you always," former HKT48 member Hazuki Sotozono posts.](https://hochi.news/images/2026/06/19/20260619-OHT1I51103-C.jpg)
![[Scoreboard] Softbank Hawks vs. Orix Buffaloes](https://hochi.news/assets/v2/img/hochi_news_sns.png)
![[Softbank Hawks] Gota Suzuki, who made a great relief appearance, has the right to "get his first professional win with one pitch from a rookie." Yudai Shoji who hit a go-ahead two-run single in the 6th inning, said, "I had in mind that I had the right to get my first win."](https://hochi.news/images/2026/06/25/20260625-OHT1I51510-L.jpg)
![[Softbank Hawks] Kensuke Kondo hits his 17th home run in two consecutive games. He scooped up a curveball after two strike to narrow the gap to one run. "I was able to make a solid swing."](https://hochi.news/images/2026/06/25/20260625-OHT1I51450-L.jpg)
![[Softbank Hawks] Jun Maeda left the mound after two runs in the middle of the sixth inning. "We need to practice more on areas other than pitch. We just need to practice." bases loaded was in a crisis when the second pitcher, Gota Suzuki, put the fire out with a single pitch.](https://hochi.news/images/2026/06/25/20260625-OHT1I51495-L.jpg)
