FUKUOKA, Japan (Interstat) — Carter Stewart Jr. pitched 5 2/3 innings of four-hit ball and the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks rallied past the Chiba Lotte Marines 3-2 on Friday night in front of 40,122 at Fukuoka Yahuoku! Dome.

SoftBank improved to 45-29-2, while Lotte dropped to 36-34-3. The game lasted 2 hours, 47 minutes.

Lotte starter Koshiro Hiroike delivered a strong performance, allowing six hits and two earned runs over seven innings with six strikeouts, but he took the loss to fall to 2-4. Stewart earned his fifth win against three losses, and Kazuki Sugiyama worked a perfect ninth inning for his 15th save.

The Hawks struck first in the third inning. Yudai Shoji led off with a single to shallow left, stole second, advanced to third on a strikeout and scored on Tatsuru Yanagimachi’s sacrifice fly to left.

Lotte answered in the top of the fourth. Koki Yamaguchi singled to shortstop to lead off and moved to second on a groundout. Neftali Soto grounded out to shortstop, driving in Yamaguchi to tie the score. Hisanori Yasuda doubled to right-center and Ryusei Terachi singled to shallow center, scoring Yasuda to give Lotte a 2-1 lead.

SoftBank responded immediately in the bottom of the fourth. Ryoya Kurihara singled to shallow center, and after a flyout, Yuki Yanagita doubled to left-center to score Kurihara and tie the game. Hikaru Kawase followed with a triple to center, scoring Yanagita and putting the Hawks ahead 3-2.

Neither team scored after that. Hiroike retired the side in order in the fifth and sixth innings, working around a single in the fifth. Lotte threatened in the top of the sixth when Toshiya Satoh walked with one out, but Soto flied out and Yasuda struck out looking. In the top of the seventh, Lotte went down in order. Hiroike allowed a two-out single to Tomoya Masaki in the bottom of the seventh but escaped when Yanagimachi struck out.

Lotte had one more chance in the top of the eighth after a passed ball put Kyota Fujiwara on first with no outs, but Misho Nishikawa struck out swinging, Koki Yamaguchi struck out looking and Toshiya Satoh flied out to center. Sugiyama entered in the ninth and retired Soto, Yasuda and Terachi on groundouts to end the game.

SoftBank used five relievers to preserve the lead after Stewart departed with two outs in the sixth. Yuki Matsumoto struck out three over a perfect seventh, Jose Castillo threw a scoreless eighth for Lotte, and Roberto Osuna fanned two in a perfect eighth for SoftBank. Yuki Tsumori got the final out of the sixth inning.

The game featured a pivotal fourth inning in which both teams scored twice. Lotte’s two runs came on a groundout and a single, while SoftBank’s answer came via a double and a triple. Hiroike had been sharp early, allowing only a walk and a single through three innings before the Hawks broke through.

Kawase finished 1 for 3 with an RBI, Yanagita went 1 for 3 with an RBI, and Soto drove in Lotte’s first run with a groundout.

The three-game series between the teams had started with a pair of scoreless ties in late June at Lotte’s home ballpark, followed by a 3-3 tie in 12 innings. SoftBank broke that pattern by securing its first victory against Lotte since May 10.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a 6-5 SoftBank victory. Interstat’s ELO system gave SoftBank a 68.80 percent probability to win. SoftBank was installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of -1.5. The total score of 2 went over the over/under line of 7.5.