◆ Pacific League Softbank Hawks 6-1 Rakuten Eagles (16th, Mizuho PayPay Stadium)

Rakuten Eagles 's pitcher staff couldn't hold on, and they missed out on a three-game sweep against the same opponent. Starting pitcher Tatsuki Koja pitched a runs five innings, allowing only one run, but pitcher Daichi Shibata, who came in in the sixth inning, runs four hit three hits, including a two-run homer to Masaki. They handed the momentum over to Rakuten, and were ultimately defeated.

Kosha suffered his worst-ever eighth loss, allowing an infield single to Hirose, the leadoff hit in the fifth inning. He then made bad throw to first base while fielding Shoji's bunt, which widened the jam. With one out and runners on first and second, he gave up a timely hit to right field to Kondo. He was removed from the game after throwing 91 pitches.

Manager Yoshii commented, "I think he did well. He had to leave the game in that inning because his pitch count was high, but I think he did his best." He praised the overall performance.

On the other hand, he pointed out that he lacked control of his finishing pitches, saying, "I had trouble handling the bunts, and in the fifth inning, I made a slight mistake on a pitch I was trying to get the batter out, and he hit it. Today, some of the pitches I was trying to finish him off were floating high and I gave up hits, so if I can improve the precision of those pitches, I think I can get much, much better."

The batting lineup struggled against a pitching rotation centered on Haru Matsumoto ’s breaking ball. In the 7th inning, trailing 0–5, they strung together three consecutive hits from Osuna to Murabayashi, Sato, and Kurokawa to create a scoring opportunity with no outs at bases loaded, but pinch hitter Kei Watanabe grounded out to second double play. The following batters were also retired, and they managed to score only one run.“ Haru Matsumoto has a good fastball pitcher, so I tried to attack it early in the zone, but today his fastball wasn’t that great breaking ball, and I ended up swinging at a lot of pitches. I changed my approach in the second at-bat, but he pulled me right out of the game at that point—I feel like we were outmaneuvered by their strategy,” he said, conceding defeat.