On 11 April, the fourth round of the Chiba Lotte and Fukuoka Softbank matches in Zozo Marine Stadium ended in a 5-4 win for Fukuoka Softbank.

In the top of the second inning, Fukuoka Softbank had a good opportunity to put runners on second and third with one out on Hotaka Yamakawa 's hit and Tomoya Masaki 's Walk, and Ryuta Hirose led off the inning with a sacrifice fly. In the top of the fourth, Yamakawa hit a solo shot to No. 3 with one out to add one more run.

The starter, Kohei Arihara pitcher, carried the runner on his back every time, but he cut off the follow-up and did not give up a run pitch. But in the bottom of the sixth, Polanco was hit by a pitch on No. 1 Home Run. In the bottom of the seventh, he tied the game with three consecutive singles, and with two outs and the bases loaded, Shuto Ogata pitcher was hit by Polanco on an RBI single to put the game out of reach.

In the top of the eighth inning, Kenta Imamiya hit an RBI single with two outs to put the game back to square one, and in the top of the ninth, Yamakawa's No. 4 solo shot scored the winning run. But in the bottom of the ninth, with Osuna pitcher on third base with two outs and one out, Polanco hit an RBI single to tie the game at extra inning.

In the top of the 10th inning, Isami Nomura swung at the first pitch and the batted ball went straight into the left field stands. After a solo shot in the first in two years, the Yankees closed out the bottom of the 10th inning with Kazuki Sugiyama pitcher to end the game with a 4-3 lead. The win Fukuoka Softbank that started pitcher Arihara threw 118 pitches in 6.2 innings hit 3 Walk 4 strike out 3 runs. Yamakawa went 3-hit-2 RBI, including two Home Run, to earn his fourth straight win with a draw in between.

In the loss, Chiba Lotte starter Shuta Ishikawa pitcher threw 67 pitches in five innings hit 3 Walk 3 strike out 2 runs. Polanco scored 4 hit 2 RBI, including a single and Kyota Fujiwara hit, for a total of 13 hit and three runs in the final game, but the relievers couldn't hold on.

12345678910 total
So 0101000111 4
Ro 0000012000 3

SO Kohei Arihara-Shuto Ogata-Koya Fujii ○Osuna-S Kazuki Sugiyama
ro Shuta Ishikawa-Yuto Kimura-Shota Suzuki-Gerero-● Fumiya Ono

Text by Aoi Nishijima

・ Match details/video