◆ Pacific League Orix Buffaloes 3x-2 Softbank Hawks (10 extra inning) (August 8, Kyocera Dome Osaka)

Softbank Hawks Yugo Maeda pitcher started 7 innings, 8 hit 1 runs and remained scoreless. His first 7-game winning streak within his third year of high school since Shohei Ohtani in 2015 (Nippon-Ham) was missed by a reliever in the 8th, but it was a confident pitch showing his growth.

In the fourth inning, he allowed a solo homer to So, and with a one-run lead, he came to bat Nishikawa in the seventh with two outs and a runner on second. He retired a good hitter that had given up two hit to shortstop on a grounder to shortstop on the slider, and was pulled after throwing a pro-high 108 pitches. Manager Kokubo recalled, "I wanted to tie the game. For the sake of the future, I wanted him to pitch to the end of the game rather than stop the opponent's offense inning."

The rematch against Orix Buffaloes, who was KO'd 6 runs in the 3rd round in his 2024 debut, was a high-quality start for the fourth consecutive fight (7 or more innings with 2 earned runs or fewer). "It was good that I was able to pitch and hold on in such a close match that it was almost the first time I could say it was the first time. I'm still not satisfied at all, so I need to reflect on today, and there are still some things I need to fix. I hope I can watch the footage and get through it. I think I need to do even more," said the left-hander calmly in an interview after the match.