On September 4th from 18:00, the 20th round between Rakuten Eagles and Hokkaido Nippon-Ham will be held at Rakuten Mobile Saikyo Park Miyagi.

【Match Record】Rakuten Eagles (6th) vs Hokkaido Nippon-Ham (3rd) 7 wins, 12 losses

【Announced Starters】
Rakuten Eagles: Tatsuki Koja pitcher 16 games 1 win 9 losses, ERA 3.46
Hokkaido Nippon-Ham: Koki Kitayama pitcher 20 games 10 wins 3 losses, ERA 2.40 (3rd)

The starter for Rakuten Eagles is pitcher Tatsuki Koja. In his previous appearance against Seibu Lions on the 23rd, he gave up 5 hits and 1 run in 5 innings, effectively keeping the game competitive, but the run came from three consecutive Walks in the top of the 5th inning, which was a regrettable performance. In this appearance after 11 days of rest, can he secure his first win since May 16th with a strong performance that meets the coaching staff's expectations? On the batting side, McCusker is in good form with multi-hit games in two consecutive matches.

On the other hand, for Hokkaido Nippon-Ham, Reyes is leading the lineup with a league-best batting average of .317. In August, he fulfilled his role as a main slugger with 7 Home Runs and 20 RBIs; can he continue to boost the team with his consistent batting in September? Starting pitcher Koki Kitayama faced Rakuten Eagles once in April, recording 8 innings, 3 hits, 10 strike outs, and 0 runs. We look forward to another brilliant performance this time.

Text by Minagi Niwa