◆ Pacific League Rakuten Eagles Rakuten vs. Lotte (30th, Rakuten Eagles Mobile Saikyo Park Miyagi)
The popular comedy duo "Evers" threw the ceremonial first pitch on the 30th.
Takashi Sasaki (33) of Evers took on the role of pitcher, and Kazuki Machida (34) took on the role of catcher. Rakuten Eagles 's YG Yasuda stepped up to the plate. Sasaki threw the white ball from his left arm, and it landed in Machida's mitt without bounce. He displayed a powerful pitch with beautiful form, drawing gasps from the crowd.
![[Video] What?! Rakuten Eagles players doing strength training during a game](https://hochi.news/images/2026/04/03/20260403-OHT1I51418-L.jpg)
![[Scoreboard] Rakuten Eagles vs. Lotte](https://hochi.news/assets/v2/img/hochi_news_sns.png)
![[Rakuten Eagles] To Stop the Losing Streak: Naoki Sato Returns to starting line-up, Playing as the "Leadoff Hitter and Right Fielder" for the First Time in Three Games; Kosei Shoji Starts mound](https://hochi.news/images/2026/06/30/20260630-OHT1I51501-L.jpg)
![[Rakuten Eagles] Contreras finally joins the first team. The highly anticipated foreign pitcher makes his first appearance in the first team... He was sidelined due to tightness in his right upper arm.](https://hochi.news/images/2026/06/30/20260630-OHT1I51445-L.jpg)
![[Rakuten Eagles] YG Yasuda joins the first team, his first promotion in about a month Tsuyoshi Ishihara, who plays the same position, was removed from the roster on the 29th due to injury.](https://hochi.news/images/2026/06/30/20260630-OHT1I51400-L.jpg)
