KYODO NEWS - May 7, 2017 - 18:21 | Sports, All

Takayuki Kishi left the Seibu Lions as a free agent over the winter, but went seven innings in his old home park on Sunday in the Rakuten Eagles' 3-2 win.

Kishi (2-0) allowed two runs on six hits and no walks, while striking out four. Seibu's runs both came in the seventh. As Kishi approached 100 pitches, he missed up with two straight pitches to Takeya Nakamura and Ernesto Mejia, who put both pitches in the seats before 29,528 at MetLife Dome just outside Tokyo.

"It was a little hard pitching here, but facing that scary Lions lineup I'd played with and being able to challenge them, that was fun, and I got a good result," said the former Lions ace, who decided to see if he could throw a fastball past Nakamura, a six-time league home run leader.

"I wanted to see if I could do it. I won't try it again."

Seibu starter Brian Wolfe (4-1) suffered his first loss in a Lions uniform breaking an 8-0 streak since he joined the club last summer. The right-hander gave up three runs on three hits, all coming in the third inning. He struck out four and walked one in his seven innings.

The Pacific League-leading Eagles opened the scoring playing for one run. Takero Okajima doubled to lead off the inning was sacrificed to third and scored on a squeeze by Yuichi Adachi.

With two outs, Rakuten's powerful one-two, top-of-the-order punch connected. Eigoro Mogi doubled and Carlos Peguero hit his eighth home run.

Rookie Rakuten right-hander Kohei Morihara worked a scoreless eighth, and lefty closer Yuki Matsui retired the heart of the Lions order in the ninth to earn his 13th save.

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Hawks 8, Marines 2

At Zozo Marine Stadium, Alfredo Despaigne's two-run homer, his eighth home run of the year and his third against his former team, opened the scoring in the third innings as SoftBank pounded Lotte, getting 5-2/3 innings out of Hayato Terahara (1-1) who won as a starter for the first time in two seasons.

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Buffaloes 4, Fighters 3, 12 innings

At Kyocera Dome, Shunta Goto's one-out, 12th-inning RBI single lifted Orix over Nippon Ham, snapping the Buffaloes' four-game losing skid and the Fighters' five-game winning streak.

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Central League

Tigers 6, Carp 0

At Koshien Stadium, Atsushi Nomi (1-2) pitched out of a first-inning, bases-loaded jam to go 5-2/3 innings and three relievers completed the seven hit shutout. Takashi Toritani broke the ice with a two-out RBI single in the fourth, when Hiroshima's Allen Kuri (2-3) was one pitch away from getting out of a jam. The win lifted Hanshin a full game ahead of the Carp in the CL standings.

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Dragons 8, Giants 1

At Nagoya Dome, Jordan Norberto (2-0) threw seven shutout innings, while Tetsuya Utsumi (1-3) surrendered homers to Alex Guerrero and Dayan Viciedo, taking the loss as Chunichi hammered Yomiuri. Viciedo went 4-for-5, scored twice and drove in four runs.

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Swallows 12, BayStars 5

At Yokohama Stadium, Yuhei Takai had four doubles, scored three runs and drove in four as Yakult blasted DeNA, whose starter Yasutomo Kubo (1-1) allowed eight runs in five innings.