CHIBA, Japan (Interstat) — The Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles rallied from a two-run deficit Thursday evening, scoring three unanswered runs over the seventh and eighth innings to defeat the Chiba Lotte Marines 4-3 at Chiba Marine Stadium.

A crowd of 26,933 watched the Golden Eagles improve to 36-52-1, while the Marines dropped to 41-44-2. The game lasted 3 hours, 44 minutes.

Rakuten’s right-hander Tatsuki Koja started and allowed three earned runs on seven hits over six innings, striking out seven. He left with the Golden Eagles trailing 3-1, but the bullpen took over from there. Katsutoshi Tai, Ryu Kutani and Shoma Fujihira each pitched a scoreless inning, combining for six strikeouts without a hit. Kutani earned the win, his first against no losses, and Fujihira recorded his 20th save.

Lotte starter Kaito Mouri worked four-plus innings, allowing seven hits and one earned run while striking out two. Shota Suzuki took the loss, falling to 5-1, after surrendering the tying and go-ahead runs.

The Marines struck first in the opening inning. Kyota Fujiwara led off with a double to the right-field line and later scored on a two-out single by Hisanori Yasuda to shallow right, giving Lotte a 1-0 lead.

Rakuten answered in the third. Daisuke Nakashima doubled to left-center with one out, moved to third on a groundout and scored on Ryosuke Tatsumi’s single to shallow center, tying the game 1-1.

Lotte regained the lead in the fifth. Tsuyoshi Yamasaki was hit by a pitch to start the inning, then Fujiwara doubled to right-center, driving in Yamasaki. Koki Yamaguchi followed with a single to shallow left, scoring Fujiwara and making it 3-1.

The Golden Eagles left the bases loaded in the top of the fifth when Carson McCusker grounded into a double play, but they finally broke through in the seventh.

Fumiya Kurokawa lined out to start the inning before Nakashima singled to shallow right. Yuma Yasuda singled to shallow right, putting runners at first and second. After Tatsumi struck out, McCusker walked to load the bases with two outs. Itsuki Murabayashi then delivered the key hit, a single to shallow left that scored two runs and tied the game 3-3. Hideto Asamura walked to reload the bases, but Rui Muneyama grounded out to end the inning.

Rakuten grabbed the lead in the eighth. With two outs, Nakashima tripled to the right-field line. Ryuya Taira followed with a single to shallow left, scoring Nakashima and giving Rakuten a 4-3 advantage. Taira stole second, but Tatsumi walked and McCusker grounded out to end the frame.

Lotte’s final threat came in the bottom of the eighth when Koja was relieved by Tai, who struck out the side. In the ninth, Kutani worked a perfect inning with two strikeouts, and Fujihira closed it out with a 1-2-3 ninth, striking out the final two batters.

Daisuke Nakashima led Rakuten’s 12-hit attack, going 4 for 5 with a double and a triple. For Lotte, which managed seven hits, Kyota Fujiwara was 2 for 4 with an RBI.

The victory snapped a three-game losing streak for Rakuten, which had lost 10-2 to the Marines the previous night. The Golden Eagles now head to Sapporo for a two-game series against the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters starting Saturday. Lotte travels to Osaka to face the Orix Buffaloes on Friday.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of 5-2 in favor of Rakuten. Interstat’s ELO system gave Lotte a 55.70 percent chance to win. Rakuten entered as a pregame favorite with a spread of plus-1.5. The total score of seven runs went over the over-under line of 8.5.