Tsuyoshi Nishioka hit a two-run home run and Takumi Kobe's tiebreaking single in the ninth inning lifted the Chiba Lotte Marines to a 5-4 win over the Chunichi Dragons in a preseason game on Wednesday.
Nishioka's first drive of the spring gave Lotte a 2-1 lead in the top of the third before Chunichi went ahead 4-2 on an Atsushi Fujii two-run triple in the fifth at Nagoya Dome. Benny Agbayani had a run-scoring double in the eighth to cut the deficit to one.
Marines starter Shingo Ono struggled, yielding four runs on five hits while walking one in 4 1/3 innings. Dragons right-hander Kenichi Nakata, who is a candidate to pitch the season opener, gave up three runs and walked four batters in three shaky innings.
Fighters 5, Swallows 4