SENDAI, Japan (Interstat) — Ryosuke Tatsumi went 4 for 4 with a home run and the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles edged the Orix Buffaloes 3-2 on Wednesday evening at Kleenex Stadium Miyagi.

Tatsumi singled in the first, homered in the third, singled again in the sixth and tripled in the eighth, scoring the winning run when Carson McCusker followed with a single. The victory, before a crowd of 24,110, improved Rakuten to 33-49-1 while Orix dropped to 42-40-2. The game lasted 3 hours, 18 minutes.

Rakuten struck first in the second inning. Itsuki Murabayashi singled to shallow left off Orix starter Ren Mukunoki, and Hideto Asamura walked. After Ryuya Taira sacrificed both runners into scoring position, Hikaru Ohta lifted a sacrifice fly to right that brought Murabayashi home for a 1-0 lead.

Orix answered in the top of the third. Kotaro Kurebayashi doubled to center, and Ryoto Kita singled to the pitcher. Sho Fukunaga laid down a sacrifice bunt that turned into a fielder’s choice, scoring Kurebayashi. Keita Nakagawa singled to shallow left, and Ryoma Yamanaka followed with a sacrifice fly to right that plated Kita, putting Orix ahead 2-1. The rally ended when Ryoma Nishikawa grounded into a double play.

Rakuten tied it in the bottom of the third. With two outs, Tatsumi launched a home run to left-center off Mukunoki, his first of the night. Carson McCusker struck out to end the inning.

The score remained deadlocked through the middle innings. Orix reliever Raiku Katayama entered in the second and worked 4 1/3 innings, allowing four hits and two earned runs while striking out one. He kept the game close, stranding runners in the fourth and sixth. In the fourth, Rakuten put a man on with a Murabayashi single, but Katayama induced a double-play grounder from Ryuya Taira. In the sixth, Tatsumi singled and McCusker walked, but Katayama got Murabayashi to fly out and Asamura to ground out.

Rakuten starter Kenta Maeda pitched seven innings, scattering four hits and two earned runs with three strikeouts. He retired the side in order in the first, second, fourth, fifth and seventh innings, shaking off the two-run third. Maeda left after seven with the score 2-2.

Orix threatened in the eighth. Sho Fukunaga struck out, but Nakagawa reached on a two-base error and Yamanaka walked. Nishikawa grounded out to second, putting runners at second and third with two outs. Tomoya Mori then flied out to center to end the inning.

The decisive moment came in the bottom of the eighth. Fumiya Kurokawa flied out to center to start the frame. Tatsumi then tripled to center off Orix reliever Ryusei Gonda. McCusker lined a single to shallow left that scored Tatsumi and gave Rakuten a 3-2 lead. Murabayashi grounded into a double play to end the inning.

Rakuten closer Shoma Fujihira entered the ninth needing three outs for his 18th save. He allowed a two-out single to Kurebayashi and a single to Kita, but Ryu Sugisawa grounded out to first to end the game.

Orix reliever Ren Mukunoki took the loss, his third against two wins. He pitched one inning, allowing two hits and one earned run. Katsutoshi Tai earned the win for Rakuten, tossing a scoreless eighth with one strikeout, improving to 2-0. Soichiro Yamazaki and Kaito Saiki combined for two scoreless innings of relief for Orix.

The game was the second of a three-game series at Sendai. Orix had lost the opener 3-1 on Tuesday. The two teams split a two-game set in June, with Rakuten winning 5-1 and Orix winning 5-2. In the previous 10 head-to-head meetings, Orix held a 5-4-1 edge.

Orix next plays at Rakuten again Thursday before returning home to host Hokkaido Nippon Ham for three games starting Saturday. Rakuten will host Orix again Thursday, then welcome Saitama Seibu for a three-game weekend set.

Interstat’s game simulator projected a 4-3 final score in favor of Orix, and its ELO system gave Orix a 53.90 percent probability to win. Orix was installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of minus 1.5. The combined total of five runs went over the over-under line of 7.5.