◆ Pacific League 4-5 Softbank Hawks (20th, ZOZO Marine Stadium)

Softbank Hawks won a close game to secure their fourth consecutive victory. This marks their seventh three-game sweep against the same opponent, bringing their lead in the standings to a record high of 22 games.

Trailing by two runs in the third inning, they narrowed the gap to one run with a Walk, and then tied the game again in the fourth inning with a two-doble by Umino when they were two runs behind. In the fifth inning, they took the lead with a timely hit by Kurihara.

When starting pitcher Ozeki left the mound with 3 runs in the middle of the sixth, the team began a minor relief pitching session. In this game, in the third game of the nine-game series, the closer Sugiyama and setup man Yutaka Matsumoto, who had been pitching two in a row, both were given rest days and left the bench. Osuna gave up a game-tying solo home run to a solo homer in the eighth, but in the ninth, Shuto's sacrifice fly took the lead. Tsumori closer the bottom of the inning, earning his first save of the season. He held on to hold on to a one-run deficit.