Osaka – Roki Sasaki struck out eight over six scoreless innings to outpitch fellow rookie Hiroya Miyagi and lead the Chiba Lotte Marines to a crucial 6-1 win over the Pacific League-leading Orix Buffaloes on Thursday.
The win at Orix’s Kyocera Dome Osaka moved second-place Lotte to within a half-game of the Buffaloes.
Sasaki (3-2) took the mound in the bottom of the first with a three-run lead after Brandon Laird drove in the first run of the game for the third straight night.
The Marines’ batters were able to get a lot of good swings against Miyagi (12-4), who surrendered a one-out first-inning single and a walk before doubles by Laird and Adeiny Hechavarria made it 3-0 Lotte.
Sasaki was helped by some outstanding defense to hold Orix to five hits and a walk.
“My control wasn’t that good, so I tried to compensate for that by throwing harder,” Sasaki said. “This was a game we couldn’t afford to lose, so I’m glad I could shut our opponents down.”
Trailing 6-0 in the ninth, the Buffaloes scored a consolation run on Takahiro Okada’s 16th home run.
Hawks 6, Eagles 5
At Sendai’s Rakuten Seimei Park Miyagi, pinch-hitter Keizo Kawashima’s RBI triple snapped an eighth-inning tie and lifted fourth-place SoftBank to a win.
Lions 3, Fighters 0
At Sapporo Dome, Takeya Nakamura homered twice and drove in all of the Seibu runs in a win over last-place Nippon Ham.
CENTRAL LEAGUE
Tigers 3, Giants 0
At Tokyo Dome, back-to-back RBI doubles by Yutaro Itayama and Seiya Kinami broke a scoreless ninth-inning tie and lifted the Central League’s second-place club over third-place Yomiuri. The Tigers trail the first-place Tokyo Yakult Swallows by two games.
Swallows 1, Dragons 1
At Vantelin Dome Nagoya, reserve catcher Iori Katsura tripled in a seventh-inning run to bring Chunichi from behind in a tie with Yakult.
Carp 5, BayStars 3
At Hiroshima’s Mazda Stadium, Daichi Osera (9-5) allowed two runs over six innings as fourth-place Hiroshima moved to within 4½-games of third place and the CL’s final playoff spot.
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Source : Baseball – The Japan Times