The Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles won Japan's first extra-inning regular-season game in two years Sunday when Kazuki Tanaka's routine fly fell for an 11th-inning RBI double to clinch a 6-5 Pacific League win over the Chiba Lotte Marines.
For the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Nippon Professional Baseball games are allowed to go past 10 innings this season. Last year, games were limited to nine innings.
The Eagles overcame 10 strikeouts from fire-balling Lotte right-hander Roki Sasaki, who threw the fastest pitch of his pro career — 164 kilometers per hour in the first inning — but also allowed three runs over six innings.
The Marines took a 5-3 eighth-inning lead at Rakuten Seimei Park Miyagi, but the Eagles responded with single runs in the eighth, off Tayron Guerrero, and ninth, off closer Naoya Masuda to tie it.
Hiroto Kobukata led off the Eagles' 11th with a single and went to second on a ground-out. With the outfield playing shallow, Tanaka's routine fly to right center fell untouched and ended the game.
Rakuten closer Yuki Matsui (1-0) struck out four over two scoreless innings to earn the win.
Elsewhere, the Seibu Lions came from six runs down to beat the Orix Buffaloes 7-6, and the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks also came from behind to beat the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters 6-4.
The Central League champion Tokyo Yakult Swallows completed a three-game sweep of the Hanshin Tigers with a 4-0 win, while the Hiroshima Carp also remained perfect on the young season with a 7-6 win over the Yokohama DeNA BayStars.