On 4 April, the first round match between Chiba Lotte and Tohoku Rakuten was played in Zozo Marine Stadium, where Tohoku Rakuten win 3-1.

In the top of the 4th inning, Tohoku Rakuten took the lead with back-to-back singles by Hideto Asamura and Itsuki Murabayashi with two outs and one out from third base, and Rui Muneyama scored on an RBI single. In the top of the fifth, Toshiki Abe hit a solo shot, the team's first of the season, to extend the lead to two runs.

Starting pitcher Takahisa Hayakawa pitcher pitched 1-hit, 3-4 Hit by Pitch runs through six innings, including three inning in three walks. He gave up one run in the bottom of the seventh on Soto's No. 3 solo shot, but he retired the next three batters and retired the mound after seven innings of 2 hit 3 walks Hit by Pitch 4 strike out 1 runs on 102 pitches.

After that, the bottom of the eighth inning was Shoma Fujihira pitcher and the bottom of the ninth inning was Takahiro Norimoto pitcher closes out and the game ends. Tohoku Rakuten added one more run in the top of the ninth inning on a Walk to win-1. Hayakawa pitcher had his first win of the season, while Muneyama, Asamura and Murabayashi each scored 2 hit.

In the Chiba Lotte loss, starter Haruya Tanaka pitcher took his first loss of the season after going 9 hit 1 Walk 7 strike out 2 runs on 91 pitches in five innings. The offense scored just one run in 4 hit, snapping a three-game losing streak after a three-game winning streak. Yuto Kimura pitcher, who entered the game in the sixth inning, threw three perfect innings of perfect relief.

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Raku Takahisa Hayakawa-Shoma Fujihira- S Takahiro Norimoto
B. Haruya Tanaka-Yuto Kimura-Fumiya Ono

・ Match details/video