Pinch hitter Shinichi Takeuchi hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the sixth inning as the Tokyo Yakult Swallows rallied to edge the Hiroshima Carp 3-2 on Wednesday night.
Yoshihiro Maru had smacked a two-run homer over the right-center wall to give Hiroshima a 2-1 lead with two outs in the third before Yakult caught Hiroshima starter Kenta Maeda in the decisive sixth frame at Jingu Stadium.
Kazuhiro Hatakeyama led off the bottom of the second with a double off the left-center wall, and plated the opening run two outs later on Shingo Kawabata's single into the gap in left.