Masahiro Tanaka pitched his third complete game of the season and Takeshi Yamasaki delivered a tiebreaking single as the Rakuten Eagles beat the Orix Buffaloes 4-1 on Sunday.
Tanaka (2-1) scattered six hits, struck out seven and walked one. The right-hander surrendered a solo homer to Takahiro Okada that gave Orix a 1-0 lead in the second inning but settled down afterward in a 124-pitch outing at Kleenex Stadium.
"Our pitching coach (Yoshinori Sato) told me that this was a must win for us, so I knew I had to win no matter what," Tanaka said. "It wasn't good that they scored first but I am glad that I was able to pitch solidly after that. I figured they couldn't gain any momentum as long as I tried to stop them from hitting."
A Todd Linden solo shot tied it 1-1 in the fifth before Yamasaki's two-out hit off Hiroshi Kisanuki (1-2) gave Rakuten the lead in the following frame.