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

Seibu Lions ・ On the 7th, Takeya Nakamura infielder (42) made his first starting line-up appearance of the season as the “No. 4 hitter, DH” in the game against Softbank Hawks (Belluna Dome). He played the entire game but went 4 At Bat without a hit hit—including two struck out—and his team lost.

In the minor leagues, he played in 39 games, recording 26 hits in 98 hit At Bat a batting average of .265, 5 Home Run, and 23 RBI, and was promoted to the first team for the first time on this day. He joined the first team ahead of the three-game home series against league leaders Softbank Hawks, and it was his first appearance in 402 days since July 1st of last year, and starting line-up start in 421 days since June 12th of last year.

In his first at-bat with two outs and a runner on first in the first inning, he entered to the midst of cheers from the home stadium, but was pushed down by starting left-handed pitcher Haru Matsumoto on the second pitch, and was caught by a 147-pitch fastball inside and fled to shortstop. In the fourth inning, trailing by one run with a 0-1 leadoff score, in his second at-bat as the leadoff pitcher, he bounced back a 120 km/h curve from count-2 but grounded out to shortstop. In his third at-bat with one out and no runner in the sixth inning with the score tied, he hit a low change-up and swung struck out on the third pitch.

In the bottom of the 8th inning, with the score 2-5 and trailing by 3 runs, and with one out and runners on second and third base, he stepped up struck out in a row.

Nakamura Takeshi reflected, "Of course, I'm frustrated that I couldn't get a hit, and I'm also frustrated that we lost," but then looked ahead, saying, "Next time, I'll do my best to get solid results and live up to those cheers."

Manager Nishiguchi explained his intention to immediately use the newly promoted player in the cleanup spot, saying, "Since we've promoted him, we're going to use him." Regarding his condition, he only said, "It's too early to judge after just one game."

The team was tied 1-1 through the sixth inning, but after two inning in the seventh and eighth innings, the relief collapsed and the bullpen collapsed 4 runs, leaving Softbank Hawks 8.5 games behind. Nippon-Ham won, causing the team to drop to third place.