TOKOROZAWA, SAITAMA PREF. – Ayumu Ishikawa pitched seven strong innings and Tatsuhiro Tamura drove in the winning runs on Monday as the Chiba Lotte Marines claimed a 9-3 come-from-behind victory over the Saitama Seibu Lions in the Pacific League.
The Lions suffered a heavy defeat a day after claiming the lead in the Pacific League and securing a spot in the playoffs for the third straight year.
In front of a holiday crowd at MetLife Dome outside Tokyo, Ishikawa (7-5) allowed three runs on eight hits and three walks, while striking out seven.
Trailing 2-1 in the sixth, the Marines went ahead after Ikuhiro Kiyota drove in the tying run with a bases-loaded single off Lions starter Keisuke Honda (6-6) and Tamura added two more with a single to center field.
After an RBI double from Takashi Ogino, Leonys Martin capped the six-run rally with a two-run single after leading off the inning with a base knock to right.
Ishikawa surrendered a two-run double to Lions slugger Hotaka Yamakawa in the second, but did not allow another run until Tomoya Mori’s RBI single in the seventh.
“I was focused on pitching like I always do, but I was really impressed with the Lions’ batters,” Ishikawa said.
Eagles 8, Buffaloes 2
Hideto Asamura went 3-for-5 with four RBIs at Kyocera Dome behind seven innings from Takayuki Kishi (3-5) in the Tohoku Rakuten Eagles’ win over the Orix Buffaloes. The Eagles snapped their losing streak at three games.
Fighters 7, Hawks 2
At Asahikawa Starffin Stadium in Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Kensuke Kondo drove in three runs in the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters’ win over the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. The game was called on account of rain with no outs in the top of the eighth.
Central League
Tigers 2, Giants 1
Shun Takayama broke a sixth-inning tie with a bases-loaded walk as the Hanshin Tigers beat the Yomiuri Giants at Tokyo Dome.
Dragons 8, BayStars 1
At Nagoya Dome, Takumi Yamamoto (3-3) threw seven scoreless innings in the Chunichi Dragons’ rout of the Yokohama BayStars.
Swallows 6, Carp 4
At Mazda Stadium, Keiji Takahashi (4-6) allowed three runs while striking out seven over 6⅓ innings as the Tokyo Yakult Swallows came back to beat the Hiroshima Carp.
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