◆ Pacific League Rakuten Eagles Softbank Hawks (August 2nd, Rakuten Eagles Mobile Saikyo Park Miyagi)

Rakuten Eagles lost to Softbank Hawks, extending their losing streak to four games. Their deficit has now ballooned to a season-worst 20 games.

Kosha, who started the game against Softbank Hawks pitched three runs innings, allowing only one hit struck out striking out four batters. However, in the fourth inning, with a one-run lead, with one out and runners on first and second, Kurokawa at first base fumbled a hard-hit ball by Yanagida (recorded as an error), allowing SoftBank to tie the game. With one out and runners on first and third, Yamamoto Yu hit a ground ball to second base, allowing SoftBank to score the go-ahead run, followed by consecutive RBI hits from Makihara and Imamiya. Four runs were scored in this inning, and SoftBank took the lead.

The game fell apart in the sixth inning with the team trailing by one run. Starting pitcher Koga found himself in a jam with runners on first and second and no outs, and was pulled from the game. Reliever Shibata took the mound, but with one out and runners on second and third, he gave up a two-run shot to Kawase that sailed over the right-field fence: doble.Furthermore, with two outs and a runner on third, three consecutive Walk resulted in runs. Nakagomi was brought in to relieve at this point, but he allowed a walk-in run to Yanagida Walk and another to Yu Yamamoto Walk. During Makihara’s at-bat, a wild pitch added another run runs. This inning involved six Walk, resulting in six runs. The lead was extended.

The batting lineup saw solo home runs from Taira and McCusker, and they fought hard, racking up double-digit hit, but it wasn't enough.