CHIBA – Chunichi Dragons starter Enny Romero struck out 11 in his seven-inning start to get a 5-4 win against the Chiba Lotte Marines in interleague play on Monday.
But the Central League team needed closer Raidel Martinez to pitch out of a ninth-inning jam with the winning run in scoring position before coming away with the victory at Zozo Marine Stadium.
The result came a day after the Dragons blew a five-run lead in the ninth, allowing the Marines to come back for an 8-7 win.
Romero improved to 4-5 after limiting the Marines to four hits, while also issuing four walks. The Dominican lefty was solid after giving up an early lead but exited following the seventh inning, in which he allowed a pair of runs on three hits.
“I was throwing straight up until that seventh inning, (but) I left the team in a tight spot,” the 28-year-old Romero said.
“Lately we’ve shown some weakness finishing games, but tonight we held firm for the win. We owed it to the fans.”
Left-hander Toshiya Nakamura (0-1) took the loss in his first Nippon Professional Baseball start after giving up all five of the Dragons’ runs over five innings. The 22-year-old struck out three, while allowing five hits and a walk.
The Marines took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second when Shogo Nakamura launched Romero’s 1-1 fastball over the wall behind center after leadoff man Brandon Laird reached on a walk.
But the Dragons went ahead after chasing Nakamura for four runs in the fourth. Yohei Oshima scored Masataka Iryo with a deep single that put runners at the corners with no outs. Toshiki Abe came home next on a Dayan Viciedo line-drive to tie things up.
The visitors went ahead when Oshima scored on a fielder’s choice before doubling the lead when Nobumasa Fukuda rounded the bases from first on an Atsushi Fujii drive to right.
The CL side extended the lead in the sixth when Viciedo lined a single to left to score Oshima, prompting Marines skipper Tadahito Iguchi to remove Nakamura and bring Chen Kuan-yu to the mound.
The Taiwanese lefty gave the Marines two solid, scoreless innings of relief, striking out three while allowing one hit.
The Marines went after Romero in the seventh to reduce the lead to a solitary run. Ikuhiro Kiyota led off with a double to right, then came home on a double to center from next man up Hiromi Oka. Takashi Ogino scored Oka with a pop-fly single before Romero grounded out Yudai Fujioka to end the inning.
Cuban right-hander Martinez secured his second save after putting runners on second and third with one out. Oka was tagged out at home plate attempting to score the tying run before Martinez struck out Daichi Suzuki with a full count to end the game.
Source : Baseball – The Japan Times
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