On June 9th at 18:00, the first round of the 'Nippon Life Central and Pacific League Interleague 2026' will be held on Kyocera Dome Osaka, featuring Orix Buffaloes vs. Tokyo Yakult.

[Last Season's Head-to-Head Record] Orix Buffaloes vs. Tokyo Yakult 2 wins, 1 loss

[Announced Starting Lineup]
Orix Buffaloes: Alen Kuri pitcher 10 games, 5 wins, 4 losses, ERA 2.81
Tokyo Yakult: Kengo Matsumoto pitcher 9 games, 5 wins, 1 loss, ERA 2.31

Orix Buffaloes suffered a tough streak last week, losing five straight games with a draw in between. He returned to his home ground, where he excelled this season, for a six-game series, starting Alen Kuri pitcher in the first game. In his previous appearance against The Giants, he lost 3-runs in the middle of the sixth inning, which was a frustrating outing, but this time he bounced back and wondered if he could stop the losing streak.

On the other hand, the batting lineup struggled with scoring ability, scoring fewer than 2 runs in 4 out of last 6 games. Among them, since the interleague started, Ryoma Nishikawa players have hit .208, while Yuma Mune players have been struggling, hitting .179. Since both are indispensable players for the team, we can hope for a quick recovery.

Text by Minagi Niwa