SENDAI, Japan (Interstat) — The Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles defeated the Orix Buffaloes 12-8 on Thursday evening at Kleenex Stadium Miyagi in front of 23,058 fans in a game that lasted 4 hours, 22 minutes.

The Golden Eagles rallied from a two-run deficit in the sixth inning, fueled by a grand slam from designated hitter Hideto Asamura, and never trailed again. Rakuten improved to 34-49-1, while Orix fell to 42-41-2.

Orix struck first in the second inning. Tomoya Mori singled to shallow center, and Kotaro Kurebayashi doubled to right-center, scoring Mori. The Buffaloes loaded the bases with a walk to Ryoto Kita, but Yuma Mune flew out to shortstop and Kenya Wakatsuki grounded out to shortstop, leaving the inning at one run.

Rakuten answered in the fifth inning. Itsuki Murabayashi singled, and Yoshiaki Watanabe singled. After Hideto Asamura flew out, Kengo Horiuchi walked to load the bases. Rui Muneyama walked to force in a run, tying the game 1-1. Daisuke Nakashima grounded out to first, scoring another run, and Fumiya Kurokawa lined out to shortstop, leaving Rakuten with a 3-1 lead.

The Buffaloes responded in the top of the sixth. With two outs, Kurebayashi singled, Kita singled, and Mune doubled down the left line, scoring two runs to tie the game 3-3. Wakatsuki walked, Keita Nakagawa singled to shallow left, scoring Mune, and Ryoma Yamanaka singled to shortstop, scoring Wakatsuki, putting Orix ahead 5-3.

The Golden Eagles answered in the bottom of the sixth. Ryosuke Tatsumi singled, Carson McCusker struck out, Murabayashi walked, Watanabe walked, loading the bases for Asamura. Asamura hit a grand slam to left-center, scoring four runs and giving Rakuten a 7-5 lead. Horiuchi walked, Muneyama flew out, and Nakashima lined out to end the inning.

In the seventh, Orix trimmed the lead. Ryo Ohta walked, Mori struck out, Kurebayashi walked, and Kita singled to shallow right, scoring Ohta to make it 7-6. But Mune struck out to end the inning.

Rakuten added two runs in the bottom of the seventh. Kurokawa grounded out, then Tatsumi hit a solo home run to right-center. McCusker struck out, Murabayashi doubled to left-center, and Watanabe singled to shallow center, scoring Murabayashi for a 9-6 lead. Asamura struck out.

The Buffaloes scored once in the eighth. Tomoya Noguchi walked, Nakagawa walked, Yamanaka singled over the right fielder to load the bases. Ryoma Nishikawa grounded into a double play, scoring Noguchi to make it 9-7. Ohta grounded out to pitcher.

Rakuten answered with three runs in the bottom of the eighth. Horiuchi walked, Muneyama walked, Nakashima reached on a sacrifice bunt error, loading the bases. Kurokawa popped out, Tatsumi singled to shallow right, scoring Horiuchi. Atsuki Mutoh hit a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Muneyama. Murabayashi singled to shallow left, scoring Nakashima for a 12-7 lead. Ryuya Taira struck out.

In the ninth, Orix scored one run. Mori singled, Kurebayashi singled, Kita flew out, Mune hit a sacrifice fly to left, scoring Mori to make it 12-8. Ryu Sugisawa struck out to end the game.

The winning pitcher was Daichi Shibata, who improved to 2-1 on the season. The losing pitcher was Sho Iwasaki, who fell to 0-2.

Roansy Contreras earned top-star honors for Rakuten, throwing five innings, allowing four hits, one earned run and striking out one. He came off a tough start July 5 against Nippon-Ham, where he allowed six hits and four earned runs over four innings in a loss.

Key offensive performances for Rakuten included Asamura, who went 1 for 4 with a home run and four RBIs. Tatsumi went 3 for 5 with a home run and two RBIs. Murabayashi went 4 for 4 with an RBI.

For Orix, shortstop Kotaro Kurebayashi went 3 for 4 with an RBI. Third baseman Yuma Mune went 1 for 4 with three RBIs.

Orix starting pitcher Hiroshi Suzuki worked 4 1/3 innings, allowing four hits, three earned runs and striking out two. Relievers Kaito Saiki and Kaito Iriyama each pitched 2/3 of a scoreless inning. Rakuten reliever Haruto Nakagomi pitched 1/3 of an inning without allowing a hit.

The Buffaloes had 13 hits, the Golden Eagles 11. Both teams committed no errors.

Orix had won the first two games of the series earlier in the week, 3-2 and 3-1, before Thursday’s loss. The Buffaloes now head home to face the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters in a three-game set starting Saturday. Rakuten returns home to host the Saitama Seibu Lions for a three-game series beginning Saturday.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 4, Orix Buffaloes 3. Interstat’s ELO system had projected Orix with a 53.30 percent probability to win. Orix had been installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of minus 1.5. The total score of 20 went well over the over/under line of 7.5.