◆ Pacific League Rakuten Eagles: Rakuten vs. Nippon-Ham (5th, Rakuten Eagles Mobile)

Nippon-Ham 's pitcher, Ren Fukushima, gave up 4 hit 3 runs in 2 innings. His control was erratic, and many of the balls were hit hard, prompting manager Shinjo to switch to reliever Uehara in the 3rd inning.

In the first inning, after an infield hit and two Walk the bases with one bases loaded, Murabayashi hit sacrifice fly to center field, giving up the first run.

In the second inning, Kurokawa sacrifice fly after a series of hits and Hit by Pitch bases loaded the bases with one out. Tatsumi followed with an RBI single to right field, adding two more runs.

After being taken out of the game, Fukushima commented, "I regret that my tempo got off. There were times when I allowed consecutive hits and couldn't stop the momentum. I'm sorry to the reliever pitchers for leaving mound so early in inning."

Fukushima had been consistently pitch well this season, appearing in three games in June and earning one win, but ERA 1.35. He also showed his strengths with strike out rate of 10.80. However, before his appearance against Rakuten Eagles this season, he had a record of 2 losses in 3 games and ERA 3.50. Perhaps due to his poor record against them, he left mound early.