On August 13th at 18:00, the 18th round match between Tohoku Rakuten Eagles and Orix Buffaloes will be held at Rakuten Eagles Mobile Saikyo Park Miyagi.

[Head-to-head Record] Tohoku Rakuten Eagles (6th) vs Orix Buffaloes (4th) 10 wins, 7 losses

[Announced Starting Lineup]
Tohoku Rakuten Eagles: Ryota Takinaka pitcher 14 games, 5 wins, 5 losses, ERA 2.63
Orix Buffaloes: Daiki Tajima pitcher 12 games, 2 wins, 5 losses, ERA 6.88

Tohoku Rakuten Eagles will start this season with Ryota Takinaka pitcher, who has posted a record of 3 wins and 0 losses and a ERA 1.01 record at Rakuten Eagles Mobile Saikyo Park Miyagi. This marks the second consecutive week against Orix Buffaloes, following the previous 5th day. In that last appearance, he pitched 7 innings, 5 hit, and 3 runs, but lost due to lack of support from his teammates. Let's look forward to strong pitching in a well-matched mound.

Orix Buffaloes ・ Yusuke Mugitani was registered as an active player on August 11. In the farm league, he played 36 games, batting .262 with a .262 batting average of 1 Home Run and 13 stolen base, and in late July, he also participated in the Namix Fresh All-Star Game 2026. After being promoted to the first team for the first time in three months, he was promoted to starting line-up in two consecutive games as the leadoff batter and center fielder. In the game on the 12th, he was closer by Kenta Maeda pitcher, but reached base in Walk and successfully recorded his second stolen base of the season. A game in his hometown of Miyagi Prefecture. Winning starting line-up in three consecutive games, will he be active both offensively and defensively?

Text by Ayako Kikuchi