CHIBA, Japan (Interstat) — In a stunning reversal defying both the odds and the evening’s dominant narrative, the Chiba Lotte Marines scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to walk off with a 3-2 victory over the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks on Friday night at Chiba Marine Stadium.

A crowd of 27,014 watched as the Marines, held to just five hits and no runs through eight brilliant innings by SoftBank starter Naoyuki Uwasawa, erupted against the Hawks’ bullpen to snatch the series opener. The comeback handed SoftBank its second loss of the young season and improved Lotte to 4-3.

The game was a masterclass in pitching for its first two-thirds. Uwasawa, the SoftBank right-hander, was nearly untouchable. Over eight innings, he allowed just five hits, walked none and struck out nine, throwing 71 of his 103 pitches for strikes. He faced minimal trouble, with only one Marine reaching second base against him.

He was matched nearly pitch-for-pitch by Lotte’s Kaito Mouri, who worked seven strong innings. Mouri also surrendered five hits, but his outing was blemished by one costly mistake in the seventh.

After six innings of scoreless baseball, SoftBank’s offense finally broke through. Hotaka Yamakawa led off the top of the seventh with a single to shallow left. On the next pitch, cleanup hitter Ryoya Kurihara turned on a Mouri offering and launched a two-run home run to right field, giving the Hawks a 2-0 lead. It was Kurihara’s only hit in three at-bats, but it provided what seemed a decisive blow.

Uwasawa returned to finish the eighth, preserving the two-run lead. The Hawks then turned to reliever Kazuki Sugiyama to close it out in the ninth.

The inning began ominously for SoftBank. Neftali Soto led off with a sharp single to shallow left. Pinch-hitter Atsuki Tomosugi struck out looking, but another pinch-hitter, Daito Yamamoto, worked a walk, putting the tying runs on base.

Akito Takabe, pinch-hitting for the pitcher’s spot, then delivered a clutch single to shallow left, scoring Soto and cutting the deficit to 2-1. Hiromi Oka grounded out to shortstop, advancing the runners to second and third with two outs.

That brought Kyota Fujiwara to the plate. The Lotte right fielder, who was 1-for-4 on the night, fell behind in the count but then drove a Sugiyama pitch into the right-field gap. The ball landed fair and rolled to the wall, easily scoring both Yamamoto and Takabe and triggering a jubilant celebration at home plate as the Marines mobbed Fujiwara.

The dramatic finish rendered a gem by Uwasawa a footnote and made a winner of Keisuke Sawada, who pitched a perfect top of the ninth with two strikeouts for Lotte. Sugiyama took the loss for SoftBank.

The result was a shock to predictive systems. Interstat’s game simulator had projected an 8-3 SoftBank victory, and its ELO system gave the Hawks a 68% probability to win. The Hawks had also been installed as pregame favorites with a spread of +1.5. The total score of five runs went under the over/under line of 7.0.

Offensively, Lotte out-hit SoftBank eight to five. Misho Nishikawa had two of the Marines’ eight hits. For the Hawks, the attack was quiet outside of Kurihara’s seventh-inning blast.

The most important part of the game was unequivocally the bottom of the ninth inning. After being stifled for eight innings by Uwasawa’s dominance, the Marines’ relentless final-frame rally, culminating in Fujiwara’s two-out, two-run double, transformed a likely pitcher’s duel loss into an improbable and momentum-shifting victory. It underscored the game’s fundamental truth: a lead is never safe until the final out.

With the win, Lotte improved to 4-3 across all competitions this season, while SoftBank fell to 5-2. The two teams continue their three-game series at Chiba Marine Stadium on Saturday and Sunday.