◆ Pacific League Seibu Lions Softbank Hawks (July 7th, Belluna Dome)

Seibu Lions lost the first game of their three-game series against league Softbank Hawks at their home stadium, widening the gap to 8.5 games, and with Nippon-Ham winning, they dropped to third place.

On this day, Takeya Nakamura infielder (42) was called up for the first time this season. He was immediately inserted into the lineup as the cleanup hitter, “DH,” at starting line-up. Furthermore, the team formed a powerful lineup featuring foreign players starting from the leadoff spot: Canario, An-Ko Lin, and Nevin.

However, Canario had 3 At Bat no hit 2 struck out and was replaced midway through the 8th inning when pinch hitter Hirasawa was sent in. An-Ko Lin hit a timely doble to right-center in his fourth at-bat in the 8th inning for 3 At Bat 1 hit, but Nevin had 2 At Bat no hit, Tsuyoshi Nakamura 4 At Bat no hit, and the top four went 12 At Bat 1 hit. The team also hit his first solo home run in four years, temporarily tying the game in the fifth inning, but scored 2 runs hit 6. pitcher starter Hikaru Takahashi held on with 1 runs in the 6th, but Moriwaki and Hayato Sato gave up 4 runs in the 2-inning of the 7th and 8th, and the pitching and batting didn't mesh well.

Manager Nishiguchi explained his decision to bat Tsuyoshi Nakamura cleanup, saying, “Once I put him in the lineup, I figured I’d have to use him.” Regarding the decision to line up foreign players in the 1st through 3rd spots, he said, “At first, I had a different lineup batting order in mind, but that’s how it ultimately turned out."Natsuo (Takizawa) was a bit more physically taxing than expected, so I took him out (starting line-up), which is why the lineup (batting order) changed," he revealed.