The 18th game of the season between Chiba Lotte Marines and Tohoku Rakuten Eagles will be held at Zozo Marine Stadium on September 8th at 6 PM.

[Head-to-head record] Chiba Lotte Marines (5th place) vs. Tohoku Rakuten Eagles (6th place): 11 wins, 6 losses

[Announced Starting Pitcher]
Chiba Lotte Marines: pitcher Haruya Tanaka 13 games, 2 wins, 5 losses, ERA 4.54
Tohoku Rakuten Eagles: Kenta Maeda pitcher 12 games, 4 wins, 4 losses, 2.48 ERA

Chiba Lotte Marines Lotte pitcher Haruya Tanaka gave up two Home Run and four runs in six innings in his last start against Hokkaido Nippon-Ham. He has given runs in the first inning in his last two starts, so he will be closer to get a solid start this time. This will be his first matchup against Tohoku Rakuten Eagles since April 18th. He had a disappointing start back then, giving up eight hit, three Walk and seven runs in five innings, but will he be able to get his revenge this time?

Tohoku Rakuten Eagles is keeping an eye on Ryosuke Tatsumi. In the game Hokkaido Nippon-Ham on the 6th, he hit a two-run Chiba Lotte Marines single to give his team the lead, and on the 4th, he recorded his career-high 12th home run. He struggled in August with a batting average of .198, but he will be looking to pick up his form again and support pitcher Kenta Maeda against Chiba Lotte, a team against whom he has a good batting average of .324.

Written by Kai Nagi Niwa