On June 5th at 18:00, the first round of the 'Nippon Life Central-Pacific League Interleague 2026' will be held at Koshien, featuring Hanshin Tigers against Tohoku Rakuten Eagles.

[Last Season's Head-to-Head Record] Hanshin Tigers vs Tohoku Rakuten Eagles 0 wins, 3 losses

[Announced Starting Lineup]
Hanshin Tigers: Haruto Takahashi pitcher 8 games, 6 wins, 0 losses, ERA 0.86
Tohoku Rakuten Eagles: Takayuki Kishi pitcher 1 game, 0 wins, 1 loss, ERA 5.40

The starting pitcher for the Tohoku Rakuten Eagles is Takayuki Kishi pitcher. In his first appearance of the season (May 29, against Tokyo Yakult), he pitched 86 pitches, 8 hit, 1 Hit by Pitch, 7 strike out, 3 runs over 5 innings, and suffered a loss. Will this be their first win of the season against Hanshin Tigers after four years? The batting lineup is Ryosuke Tatsumi, with players posting a strong .293 batting average. The team is in good form, scoring 9 hit 7 goals in the previous match, and a total of 28 hit 16 goals in the previous three matches. To support pitcher Kishi, we want to keep scoring from the start.

Text by Harukazu Sonoda