Lee Dae-ho delivered a tiebreaking two-run double in the third inning, and the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks hung on to beat the Chiba Lotte Marines 5-4 on Sunday.

With the game tied 2-2 in the third, Lee, who entered the game batting .188, lined a two-out double to left-center that put the visitors up for good. With two outs and a runner on second, the Marines chose to walk cleanup hitter Seiichi Uchikawa to face Lee and got burned.

“It’s natural they should choose me to face,” Lee said. “I am getting back to where I want to be with my form, but I’m not quite there yet. And after my hit, I didn’t do anything after that.”

Softbank starter Jason Standridge (3-1) battled all afternoon, earning the win despite allowing four runs in 6-1/3 innings. The right-hander gave up nine hits and a walk, while striking out three. Standridge got ahead in counts but had trouble executing.

“Today was both bad and good,” he said. “I was able to get two strikes, so that was good, but I gave up a lot of two-strike hits. I don’t think I really did my job today.

“Five runs should always be enough. I got lucky they didn’t score more.”

Before 17,851 on a rainy day at QVC Marine Field, the Hawks got two quick runs in the first against side-arm right-hander Shota Kurosawa, who was making his first career start.

After back-to-back singles, first baseman Tadahito Iguchi missed a ground ball for a run-scoring error. With runners on the corners, Uchikawa delivered a sacrifice fly.

But the Marines tied it in the bottom half of the inning.

After a pair of hits, including a two-out single by Alfredo Despaigne, a run scored on Katsuya Kakunaka’s infield hit and Luis Cruz lined a single to center to tie the game with his 18th RBI.

No. 1 and 2 hitters Akira Nakamura and Taisei Makihara reached on back-to-back singles to lead off the third. Makihara was picked off and Kurosawa pitched around to issue a walk to Uchikawa.

The tactic backfired, however, when Lee lined a high first-pitch breaking ball to the warning track in left center. The ball somehow evaded center fielder Yoshifumi Okada’s Golden Glove.

Cruz had a sacrifice fly to add to his Japan-leading RBI total in the bottom of the sixth.

Hawks No. 9 hitter Kenta Imamiya restored the visitors’ two-run cushion with a solo homer off Naoya Masuda, who came on in the seventh after Kurosawa and Yuta Omine each worked three innings.

Yuta Yoshida led off the bottom of the inning with a homer of his own — his first of the season. A one-out single spelled the end for Standridge. Lefty Masahiko Morifuku served up a liner off Daichi Suzuki’s bat that first baseman Lee caught and stepped on the bag to double up the runner.

Edison Barrios pitched out of a jam in the eighth by striking out Iguchi. The former big leaguer ended three innings with teammates in scoring position and made two errors. Dennis Sarfate worked a 1-2-3 ninth to record his sixth save.

Fighters 3, Eagles 0

At Sendai’s Kobo Stadium, Shohei Otani struck out seven in a four-hit shutout to improve to 4-0 in four starts, and Kensuke Tanaka drove in all three runs as Hokkaido Nippon Ham defeated Tohoku Rakuten.

Buffaloes 4, Lions 1

At Kobe’s Hotto Motto Field, Orix starter Bryan Bullington was ejected in the top of the second inning for hitting young slugger Tomoya Mori, but his teammates erupted for four runs in the home half in a win over Seibu.

Yoshio Ito singled in two runs and Francisco Caraballo singled in another for Orix.

CENTRAL LEAGUE

Carp 5, Dragons 0

At Mazda Stadium, Kris Johnson (2-0) worked eight innings, Kosuke Tanaka plated the game’s first run with a squeeze bunt and first-round draft pick Takayoshi Noma had his first career homer as Hiroshima blanked Chunichi.

Giants 5, Tigers 3 (11)

At Koshien Stadium, Seiji Kobayashi broke an 11th-inning tie with a two-run single as Yomiuri defeated Hanshin.

The Tigers took a 3-2 lead on a throwing error by second baseman Yasuyuki Kataoka, but closer Oh Seung-hwan surrendered the tying run in the top of the ninth as the Giants forced extra innings.

BayStars at Swallows — late