SENDAI, Japan (Interstat) — The Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles defeated the Orix Buffaloes 12-8 on Thursday night at Kleenex Stadium Miyagi, claiming their third straight win in the series.

Rakuten trailed 1-0 after Kotaro Kurebayashi’s second-inning double but seized control with three runs in the fifth. Orix answered with four in the sixth, but Rakuten’s Hideto Asamura crushed a grand slam in the bottom half. Ryosuke Tatsumi added a solo homer in the seventh and an RBI single in the eighth as the Golden Eagles pulled away.

Orix totaled 13 hits, outhitting Rakuten 11-10, but could not overcome the big innings. Yuma Mune doubled in two runs in the sixth and added a sacrifice fly in the ninth.

Rakuten’s Daichi Shibata (2-1) earned the win with a scoreless inning of relief. Orix’s Sho Iwasaki (0-2) took the loss, allowing four earned runs in one-third of an inning.

Attendance was 23,058. The game lasted 4 hours, 22 minutes. Rakuten improved to 34-49-1, while Orix fell to 42-41-2.