The 20th game between Orix Buffaloes and the Tohoku Rakuten Eagles will be held at Kyocera Dome Osaka on August 26th at 6 PM.

[Head-to-head record] Orix Buffaloes (4th place) vs. Tohoku Rakuten Eagles (6th place): 8 wins, 11 losses

[Announced Starting Pitcher]
Orix Buffaloes: Kyosuke Saito pitcher 1 game, 0 wins, 0 losses, ERA 189.00
Tohoku Rakuten Eagles: pitcher Kosei Shoji 19 games, 6 wins, 9 losses, ERA 4.08

Orix Buffaloes 's pitcher Kyosuke Saito will make his first start of the season. In the first team, he pitched as the fourth reliever in a game against Fukuoka Softbank on July 22nd, but was hit hard, giving up 8 hit 7 runs in 0.1 innings. In his previous appearance in the farm league (on the 18th against Fukuoka Softbank), he pitched 7 innings, throwing 98 pitches, hit 4 hits strike out 2 runs. He will be looking to make a good impression in this promotion.

On the opposing side, Tohoku Rakuten Eagles will have pitcher Kosei Shoji on the mound. He has achieved a Quality Start in two of his four games, including a strong performance against Orix Buffaloes on the 11th where he allowed only two runs in seven innings. He also started the opening game at Kyocera Dome Osaka on March 27th and pitched brilliantly, allowing no runs in eight innings. He has a losing record of 6 wins and 9 losses this season, but can he rack up win from here on out?

Written by Aoi Nishijima