◆ Pacific League Rakuten Eagles Orix Buffaloes (15th, Rakuten Eagles Mobile Saikyo Park Miyagi)

Orix Buffaloes lost a game by one run, suffering their second consecutive defeat against last-place Rakuten Eagles. In the eighth inning, set-up pitcher Mukunoki gave up the go-ahead run. They have been struggling at Rakuten Eagles Mobile's Saikyo Park Miyagi, losing all five games since the start of the season.

After the game, Manager Mamoru Kishida acknowledged the current situation. “It’s been a bit of a struggle lately—we just haven’t been able to pick up any wins. pitcher and fielder have been stringing together innings and doing their best, though…”On this day, reliever Katayama made his first start of the season, pitching 4 1/3 innings—the longest outing of his second pro season—allowing 2 runs. It was essentially a bullpen day, and players like Yamazaki, who pitched inning, and bullpen also did their jobs.

They are eight games behind league leaders Softbank Hawks and four games behind third-place Nippon-Ham, who are in a playoff spot. They desperately want to avoid a third consecutive loss against the same opponent, and manager Kishida seemed determined to turn things around, saying, "Everyone might be feeling a bit down right now, but we'll all persevere and keep going."