HIROSHIMA – Daiki Iwashita took a three-hitter into the eighth inning and was backed by four home runs as the Chiba Lotte Marines beat the Hiroshima Carp 6-3 to clinch their interleague series.
Iwashita (3-1) struck out five and was tagged with three runs at Mazda Stadium, which the visitors silenced behind a slugging offense.
The second-year Lotte hurler handed the game over the bullpen got some welcome relief after yielding a walk and back-to-back singles as the Carp mounted a late rally.
Hiroshima starter Daichi Osera (6-4) gave up four solo homers and a season-high six runs — four earned — over six-plus innings. Shogo Nakamura, Takashi Ogino, Tatsuhiro Tamura and Brandon Laird all went deep against the right-hander to keep the Marines in front.
In the seventh, Osera gave up three straight hits and was replaced by Carp rookie Sotaro Shimauchi. Yudai Fujioka doubled and scored on a throwing error before Tamura’s one-run single made it 6-1.
Hiroki Takahashi drove in Hiroshima’s first run in the fifth and the Carp added eighth-inning runs on Ryuhei Matsuyama’s no-out, pinch-hit single and an RBI groundout from Kosuke Tanaka.
With three wins and nine losses, Hiroshima is assured of a losing record in interleague play for the second straight year.
Source : Baseball – The Japan Times
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