Both starters bring a route to a tight opening, so the first baserunner ahead of the middle order matters. Hanshin look to Chikamoto and Nakano to set up Morishita or Oyama. DeNA have created traffic through Watarai and Maki, then found later contact from Sano and Tobashira. The handoff to the bullpens is the next turn in the game.
Taira held Hanshin to two hits and one run over six innings in their recent meeting. Sato has struggled against him, although Morishita and Oyama have supplied Hanshin's alternative contact. At the other end, Murakami's strong season record meets a DeNA order that used Watarai and Maki to create early power and Sano and Tobashira to bring runners home in its latest postseason game.
The key bats on both sides appeared in their most recent games: Sato, Morishita and Oyama for Hanshin, and Watarai, Maki, Sano and Tobashira for DeNA. With both starting pitchers coming off substantial pitch counts, the middle innings bring the relief groups into the contest. DeNA's recent sequence of Iwata, Ise, Hamachi and Reynolds gives that transition a recognizable shape. I expect Taira to keep Hanshin from building much early traffic, with DeNA's several ways of creating and converting a runner carrying through the later innings. That's why I'm siding with the Yokohama BayStars to win.
