The second game of the "Nippon Life Interleague Series 2026" between the Yomiuri The Giants and the Orix Buffaloes will be held at Tokyo Dome on June 3rd at 6 PM.

[Head-to-head record] The Giants (Central League 3rd place) vs. Orix Buffaloes (Pacific League 2nd place): 1 win, 0 losses

[Announced Starting Pitcher]
The Giants: pitcher Togo Togo, 4 tries, 2 wins, 1 loss, ERA 3.38
Orix Buffaloes: pitcher Ryuhei Sotani, 6 games, 3 wins, 3 losses, ERA 3.21

Orix Buffaloes 's starting pitcher Ryuhei Sotani. In his previous game (May 27th against Yokohama DeNA), he pitched a tenacious 5 innings, throwing 96 pitches, allowing 9 hit, no Hit by Pitch hit batsmen, strike out 7, and giving up 2 runs, earning his win in about a month. He also pitched against The Giants last season, pitching 7 innings and giving up 3 runs, pitcher win. He will be aiming for his second consecutive win in this game.

In the batting lineup, keep an eye on Ryoma Yamanaka. In the previous day's game, he hit hit in his first at-bat that led to the first run. Since the start of the interleague series, he has gotten hit in 6 out of 7 games he has played, and his batting average of .344 shows he is in good form. He will be looking to lead the team with his hitting in this game as well.

Written by Riyoko Niwa