The Tohoku Rakuten Eagles twice came from behind against the Orix Buffaloes to move into third place in the Pacific League on the strength of a 9-5 victory on Thursday.
The Eagles overcame an early three-run deficit to take the lead before coming from behind again in a five-run eighth at Sendai’s Rakuten Mobile Park Miyagi.
The win lifted Rakuten into third place, a half-game ahead of the Chiba Lotte Marines, who were battered 9-2 by the last-place Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters in Thursday’s other game.
Orix’s Tomoya Noguchi hit a three-run second-inning homer, but three sparkling innings of relief from Seiryu Uchi gave the Eagles the breathing room they needed to catch up and take the lead on a Yuya Ogo RBI double in the fifth.
“Uchi shutting them down from the third inning was the key for us,” Eagles manager Kazuhisa Ishii said.
Ogo was also a key for the hosts, driving in three runs, scoring twice and throwing out a runner at the plate from right field.
The Buffaloes recaptured the lead in the seventh, but Orix reliever Shota Abe (3-5), tasked with protecting the Buffaloes’ one-run lead in the bottom of the eighth, instead allowed five runs in two-thirds of an inning.