On June 11, in the third round of the 'Nippon Life Central-Pacific League 2026' between Orix Buffaloes and Tokyo Yakult held in Kyocera Dome Osaka, Orix Buffaloes win 4-2.

Starting pitcher Espinoza pitcher took struck out every inning through four innings and pitched well. In the top of the sixth, just after receiving support, he faced a no-outs bases loaded crisis after allowing his first consecutive hits, but limited the gap to one runs due to Santana's double play hits. He threw 96 pitches over 7 innings, 4 hit 1 Walk 5 strike out 1 runs (earned runs 0).

Meanwhile, the lineup struggled against Tokyo Yakult 's Shunsuke Shimokawa pitcher, who was underhanded. However, in the bottom of the 5th, with consecutive hits by Shota Hiranuma and Ryu Sugisawa, they built a one-out bases loaded opportunity, and with consecutive RBI hits from Kenya Wakatsuki and Yuma Mune, they took the lead with three runs. In the bottom of the 7th, with the score tied 3-1, Ryoma Nishikawa added a run with a timely hit.

In the final stages, he barely held on with a back-to-back pitching, and Orix Buffaloes achieved his fifth consecutive win on the same card this season. Espinoza pitcher claimed his 6th win, and Machado pitcher recorded his 17th save. The lineup featured Nishikawa hitting 2 hit 1 RBI and Mune 1 hit 2 RBI

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Ya 000001001 2
O 00003010X 4

Ya ●Shimokawa Shunsuke - Hirosawa Yu - Rilanso - Sakaguchi Kosuke
O ○ Espinosa -Ren Mukunoki- S Machado

Text by Ayako Kikuchi