Three outs from seeing their ace's winning streak snapped, the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles rallied for two runs in the bottom of the ninth on Friday to beat the Chiba Lotte Marines 3-2.
Eagles catcher Motohiro Shima's one-out, line-drive single off Marines closer Naoya Masuda (2-4) brought in the winning run from third to keep Tanaka (14-0) unbeaten since Aug. 2, 2012. The victory lifted Pacific League-leading Rakuten three games ahead of the second-place Marines.
"The incredible support from the fans, the work of the position players, they did it tonight," Tanaka said after winning his 18th straight decision. "The weather was uncertain tonight and to have so many people come out was amazing."