Tied with Rakuten

The first match up against Tigers old Special Director ended up in a 2-2 tied game. Nohmi started for Tigers and was his usual excellent self. Kobayashi also did well in relief and at this stage Tigers had a two run lead. Fujikawa then gave up a solo home run in the seventh and Fukuhara another run in the eighth to tie the score. Egusa closed out and kept the score level. Rakuten generated only three hits in the entire game so their production was good. Tigers also did well on four hits. Murton batted sixth and with Saka as lead off batter. It's a good thing these are exhibition games as there is no way Saka is an adequate lead off. Catchers were Okazaki and Shimizu both of whom were nothing to write home about.