Chiba – Takashi Ogino singled in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth, lifting the pennant-chasing Chiba Lotte Marines to a 4-3 walk-off win over the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters on Saturday afternoon.
The win at Zozo Marine Stadium reduced the second-place Marines’ magic number to clinch their first Pacific League pennant in 16 years to four. They trail the Orix Buffaloes by a half-game but have five games remaining compared to Orix’s one.
With no outs and the bases loaded against Fighters closer Toshihiro Sugiura (2-3), Ogino smashed a ball through the infield to end it and was drenched with water in celebration by his teammates.
“I don’t have much experience to win it on a walk-off. It’s cold enough today, so right now I’m chilled to the bone,” Ogino said. “This thing isn’t over. We have some tough fights ahead of us.”
Third-inning RBI doubles by Shogo Nakamura and Leonys Martin gave the hosts a 3-0 lead. Marines rookie Roki Sasaki allowed two runs over six innings while striking out 11. He gave up four hits and walked one.
After a scoreless inning from reliever Yuki Kuniyoshi, the Fighters tied it in the eighth against reliever Chihaya Sasaki.
Right fielder Hiromi Oka robbed the Fighters of a leadoff double in the corner but just barely missed another circus catch on a Wang Po-jung drive that went for a one-out double. The wind played havoc with a two-out pop fly and first baseman Brandon Laird was charged with an error when it fell and the tying run scored.
PL saves leader Naoya Masuda (3-6) worked a 1-2-3 ninth to earn the win after Ogino’s heroics.
At Rakuten Seimei Park Miyagi, the third-place Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles locked up the PL’s final playoff spot with an 8-1 win over the fourth-place Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, eliminating the four-time defending Japan Series champions from the postseason.
At Tokyo Dome, Yoshihiro Maru homered twice, doubled twice, walked, scored three runs and drove in four as the Yomiuri Giants secured a third-place finish in the Central League in an 11-1 win over the CL-leading Tokyo Yakult Swallows.
At Mazda Stadium, Masato Morishita’s only walk of the game, on a borderline 3-2 pitch with two outs in the eighth inning, helped the second-place Hanshin Tigers earn a 1-1 tie, preventing Yakult from lowering its magic number to clinch the pennant to two.
At Yokohama Stadium, Katsuki Azuma (1-2) allowed one hit over eight innings as the Yokohama DeNA BayStars beat the Chunichi Dragons for the second straight day, 5-0, in a battle between the CL’s worst two teams.
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Source : Baseball – The Japan Times