On 11 March, the opening match between Chiba Lotte and Hokkaido Nippon-Ham in Zozo Marine Stadium ended in a 5-4 win for Hokkaido Nippon-Ham.

Hokkaido Nippon-Ham loaded the bases with one out in the top of the second inning, with Yuya Gunji and Chusei Mannami on Walk, and Go Matsumoto 's RBI single scored the first run. Then, with two outs and the bases loaded, Tatsuki Mizuno hit an RBI single to score two runs in the inning.

In the top of the fourth, Go Matsumoto had doble and Torai Fushimi had hit and Shun Mizutani With two outs and bases loaded on a Walk by a player, Tatsuki Mizuno 's batted ball induced an error and added two more runs. In the top of the sixth, Mizutani reached base on a Walk and advanced to second base on a wild pitch. With two outs and the bases loaded, Yua Tamiya hit an RBI single to score the fifth run.

​Starter Fukuya Yamazaki pitcher got off to a good start with a three-out walk on 12 pitches, then closer the opposing batters to 2 hit through the next three innings. But in the bottom of the fourth, with the leadoff hitter on base with a hit, he gave up a two-run single to Hiromi Oka pitcher with two outs and walked mound in the fourth inning with 5 hit and no walks Hit by Pitch 1 strike out 2 runs on 72 pitches.

From the fifth inning, Koki Matsuoka pitcher and Ruei-Yang Gu Lin pitcher each closer 1 inning to no runs. But in the bottom of the seventh, Tsubasa Namatame pitcher gave up a Walk to the leadoff hitter and got a Naonori Yasuda to hit with two outs to get an RBI doble. He also gave up a second run on a wild pitch of his own, but maintained a 5-4 lead.

In the bottom of the eighth, Takumi Yamamoto pitcher retired three batters. In the bottom of the ninth, Keito Matsuura pitcher gave up Walk to lead off the inning, but the Tigers struck out three straight struck out to end the game with a 5-4 lead. Hokkaido Nippon-Ham won their fifth consecutive match, with Go Matsumoto hit 1 RBI and Kamikawahata 2 hit.

In the loss, Chiba Lotte starter Shuta Ishikawa pitcher went 5 hit 4 Walk 5 strike out 4 runs (earned runs 2) on 80 pitches in four innings. In the fielder lineup, Oka scored 2 hit 2 RBI including a shot.

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Day 020201000 5
B 000200200 4

Sun ○Yamazaki Fukuya-Koki Matsuoka-Ruei-Yang Gu Lin-Tsubasa Namatame-Takumi Yamamoto-S Keito Matsuura
● Shuta Ishikawa-Yusuke Azuma-Naoya Masuda- Gerero Koshiro Sakamoto-Fumiya Ono

Text by Aoi Nishijima

・ Match details/video