SENDAI (Interstat) — Ryosuke Tatsumi homered and singled in two runs to power the Rakuten Golden Eagles to a 3-1 victory over the Orix Buffaloes on Tuesday evening at Kleenex Stadium Miyagi.

Tatsumi opened the scoring with a two-out solo home run in the first inning. Rui Muneyama made it 2-0 with a solo homer in the fifth. After Keita Nakagawa cut the lead in half with a solo homer for Orix in the sixth, Tatsumi delivered a two-out RBI single in the seventh to cap the scoring.

Rakuten starter Ryota Takinaka (5-3) allowed one earned run on six hits over 6 2/3 innings with six strikeouts. Orix’s Allen Kuri (6-6) gave up two earned runs on three hits in six innings, striking out five. Shoma Fujihira pitched a scoreless ninth for his 17th save. Rakuten’s bullpen combined for 2 1/3 scoreless innings.

Each team recorded eight hits. Attendance was 23,908, and the game lasted 3 hours, 17 minutes. Orix had won its previous two games but fell to 42-39-2, while Rakuten improved to 32-49-1.