◆ Pacific League Softbank Hawks 5-2 Orix Buffaloes (25th, Mizuho PayPay Dome)

Softbank Hawks secured their second consecutive series win. Starting pitcher Jun Maeda gave up 11 hit and 2 runs in 5 1/3 innings. After the game, manager Kokubo confirmed that Maeda would be sent down to the minor leagues.

In the first inning, despite giving up a single to right field by Yamanaka, he finished the runs without a single to the pitch. In the second inning, he was in trouble with no outs bases loaded, but gave up one run due to a grounder to shortstop by Sō double play.

In the third inning, Masaki catch Nishikawa's ground ball to first base, but Jun Maeda was unable to cover the base in time, allowing Nishikawa to reach base. Later, with one out and runners on second and third, Sugimoto hit sacrifice fly to left field, resulting in a total of two runs. In the sixth inning, with one out, he gave up three consecutive hits to Nakagawa, Kurebayashi, and So before being taken out of the game.

Manager Kokubo stated, "Jun Maeda made some mistakes covering the bases, and he gave up too many hits. He won't be pitching next week. He'll be sent to the farm team."