The 13th game between Orix Buffaloes and the Tohoku Rakuten Eagles will be held at Tokyo Dome on August 3rd at 6 PM.

[Head-to-head record] Orix Buffaloes (4th place) vs. Tohoku Rakuten Eagles (6th place): 4 wins, 8 losses

[Announced Starting Pitcher]
Orix Buffaloes: pitcher Alen Kuri 18 games, 7 wins, 7 losses, 2.92 ERA, 114 strike out (1st place)
Tohoku Rakuten Eagles: pitcher Kosei Shoji 16 games, 5 wins, 8 losses, 4.13 ERA, 105 strike out (3rd place)

Orix Buffaloes will be hosting a game Tokyo Dome for the first time in 17 years. The mound will be entrusted to pitcher Alen Kuri. He has shown consistency in July, starting four games and achieving a quality start in all of them. In addition, his 114 strike out in the first half of the season are the best in the league. Kotaro Kobayashi, who hit a go-ahead RBI doble the previous day, has a batting average of .306 against Tohoku Rakuten Eagles. He also recorded multiple hit in all three games in the previous series, so expectations are high for his performance in the first game of "Bs Summer Battle 2026 supported by SAMTY".

Tohoku Rakuten Eagles will have pitcher Kosei Shoji, who has recorded two consecutive quality starts, on mound. He has started two games Orix Buffaloes this season, pitching 14 inning and allowing only two runs. His 1.29 ERA is the best among the five Pacific League League teams. He will be hoping to stop the losing streak with a tenacious pitch and run support from his teammates. Offensively, Fumiya Kurokawa recorded multiple hit in the previous day's game for the first time since July 14th. He will be looking to gain further momentum against Orix Buffaloes, against whom he has a batting average of .341.

Written by Ao Yokoyama