Pacific League: Orix Buffaloes vs Rakuten Eagles (26th, Kyocera Dome)

The Rakuten Eagles suffered a come-from-behind loss to the Orix Buffaloes.

The lineup clicked early on. In the first inning, with two outs and runners on first and third, Murabayashi hit an RBI single to left to open the scoring. Yasuda followed with another RBI hit down the right-field line.

In the second inning, with two outs and runners on second and third, Muneyama hit a two-run doble to right-center, and the following batter McCusker also hit an RBI single to left. They extended their lead with three runs in this inning, getting to Orix Buffaloes starter Saito.

Shoji, who received 5 runs of support, struggled. In the 3rd inning, timely hits from Kita and Ota led to 3 runs. In the 5th inning, Kurebayashi gave up a single to left. He threw a fastball clocked at 154 km/h with a splitter for 9 strike out. In the 6th inning, 8 hit 4 runs, he barely held onto the lead.

From the seventh inning, he pitched in relief. The second pitcher, Marte, closer the runs in the first inning. However, Yasushi, who came in in the eighth, miscalculated. With no outs and a runner on second, he bad throw the sacrifice bunt to first. runner on second scored, tying the game. Then, with one out and a runner on second, Wakatsuki gave up a go-ahead triple to right-center field. He also gave up a timely hit to Mugitani, runs. It became a tough pitch.

They took a five-point lead at one point, but were unable to hold on to it.