◆ Pacific League Rakuten Eagles Seibu Lions (22nd, Rakuten Eagles Mobile Saikyo Park Miyagi)

Rakuten Eagles lost a close game to Seibu Lions, suffering their third consecutive defeat.

pitcher It was a battle. Starter Hayakawa racked up outs at a brisk pace, holding the opposition to just 1 hit through three innings and allowing no runs. He got off to a strong start. In the sixth inning—with both teams still scoreless—he faced a two-out, runners on first and second jam but remained unflappable. He got Yamamura to ground out to shortstop and escaped the jam.Although he didn’t earn the win, he pitched well, going seven innings with five hit and no runs.

The game moved toward the end. From the eighth inning, Kutani reached mound. With two Walk and two outs, runners on first and second, he gave up Koga's game-winning two-run doble down the right field line. In the previous game, Yasushi gave up three Walk and gave up the game-winning bases loaded homer, and on this day, Kutani hit the winning run from two Walk. Regarding Kutani's pitch, manager Masato Yoshii said, "It was the same yesterday as well, but Walk gets involved in the point. It would be good if there were just one, but if you give two, it inevitably becomes a painful runs in the second half after just one inning. I hope the relief pitcher can closer those kinds of things properly," he wished for his growth.

The lineup struggled against starter Sumida Seibu Lions, giving up 3 hit and no runs. The manager said, "I'm only watching from the sidelines, so I don't really know, but according to the hitting coach, Sumida did well. Even so, we have to score somehow, so we need to develop an offense that can surpass that. When a good pitcher pitches well, it looks like this. But I want to draw something out of today's loss and move on to the next stage."