◆ Only 3 hit and 9 struck out, he was silent... Iwamoto says, "The fact that he hit so many ground balls means he's fallen into Arihara's trap."

On the 2nd, Lotte faced Nippon-Ham and suffered a 0-3 shutout game loss. Their offense was silenced by opposing starter Kohei Arihara, managing only 3 hits and hit out 9 struck out, failing to even reach second base.

On the Fuji TV ONE program "Pro baseball News 2026" aired on the 2nd, commentator Akio Saito reflected, "The young players, Kyota Fujiwara Misho Nishikawa (number 2), didn't get on base (both went 0 hit At Bat-4)." He added, "Looking at Arihara's pitch today, I think you can't pull the ball if you want to beat him. You have to hit it back to center fielder or to the opposite field, even if it means getting jammed. It felt like they were forced to hit the ball, and there were too many ground balls. It's good that the number 1 and 2 hitters are aggressive, but I think they could have watched the ball a little more." MC Tsutomu Iwamoto pointed out, "Having so many ground balls means you're playing right into Arihara's trap."

☆ Cooperation: Fuji TV ONE "Professional baseball News 2026"