Pacific League: Orix Buffaloes vs. Softbank Hawks (30th, Kyocera Dome Osaka)

Orix Buffaloes and Daiki Tajima pitcher made their presence felt with long relief. After starting pitcher Soya, who had given up 5 runs by the third inning, he moved to mound as the second pitcher from the fourth. He got Shuto out on first off with a grounder to second and Kondo to struck out. With two outs, Kurihara allowed infield hit to attack him, but Yanagida was shut down to grounder to shortstop.

In the fifth inning, Yanagimachi hit a single to right field with two outs, but the pitcher retired the next batter, Shoji, on a grounder to second. The sixth inning featured a good batting order starting from the top of the lineup, but he retired Masaki on a grounder to third, struck out Shuto swinging, and got Kondo to ground out to first.

In the seventh inning, he allowed the leadoff hitter Kurihara to reach on an infield hit to second base, but he struck out Yanagita swinging and retired Yamamoto Yu on a shortstop grounder double play, escaping without giving up any runs. From the eighth inning, the third pitcher Kotajima took the mound.

In the Rakuten Eagles game on the 13th (Rakuten Mobile Saikyo Park Miyagi), he struggled as a starter, giving up 2 runs in 3 innings, and was removed from the active roster the following day, the 14th. He was re-registered as a reliever on the 28th. This was his 152nd career NPB game and his second appearance as a reliever. The 9th-year pro left-hander showed a calm pitch, with stable output and a maximum speed of 149 km/h.