Kotaro Kurebayashi drove in three runs to back Yoshinobu Yamamoto as the Orix Buffaloes rallied to beat the Chiba Lotte Marines 8-5 in Game 1 of the Pacific League Climax Series Final Stage Wednesday.
The Buffaloes took a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series as they entered it with a one-win advantage as the league champions.
The Marines, who finished the regular season in second place, jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning against Orix ace Yamamoto. Gregory Polanco doubled in two runs and scored when Orix was unable to turn an inning-ending double play on Koki Yamaguchi’s grounder.
Kurebayashi doubled in two runs in a three-run fourth that tied the game at 3-3 and singled in the go-ahead run in a four-run sixth at Kyocera Dome Osaka.
Despite a less-than-impressive performance, Yamamoto got through seven innings, giving up five runs on 10 hits and striking out nine in a 116-pitch outing.
“We didn’t think Yoshinobu-san would be like that tonight,” Kurebayashi said in a postgame interview, drawing laughter from the crowd.
Yamamoto was fresh off another dominant season on the mound, having a 16-6 record with a 1.21 ERA in 23 games.
“He’s always been a massive help to our team, so we position players wanted to step up for him on a day like this,” Kurebayashi added.
In the Central League Climax Series, Shoki Murakami threw six innings of one-run ball and helped his own cause with a tiebreaking double, leading the Hanshin Tigers to a 4-1 win over the Hiroshima Carp in Game 1 of the final stage.
The CL champion Tigers took a 2-0 series lead against the second-place Carp at Koshien Stadium.