Ayumu Ishikawa pitched out of a second-inning jam before the Chiba Lotte Marines broke the game open in an 8-2 win over the Pacific League-leading Orix Buffaloes on Wednesday.
The win at Kyocera Dome Osaka lifted the second-place Marines to within 1½-games of first place. The teams complete their three-game set on Friday with a pair of marquee rookies set to take the mound — Orix lefty Hiroya Miyagi and Lotte right-hander Roki Sasaki.
A Brandon Laird single plated a run in the first for the visitors, but Ishikawa faced trouble in the second, when a pair of one-out singles brought veteran left-handed slugger Takahiro Okada to the plate.