SENDAI (Interstat) — Carson McCusker hit a grand slam and drove in four runs as the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles defeated the Orix Buffaloes 7-2 on Wednesday night at Kleenex Stadium Miyagi.

Rakuten trailed 2-0 before erupting for five runs in the sixth. Fumiya Kurokawa opened the inning with a solo homer, and McCusker followed with his bases-loaded shot to left. Rui Muneyama added a solo homer in the eighth, and Yuma Yasuda capped the scoring with a run-scoring single.

Kenta Maeda (3-3) earned the win, throwing seven innings of two-run ball with four strikeouts. Katsutoshi Tai and Ren Kajiya combined for two scoreless innings. Anderson Espinoza (10-4) took the loss, charged with five earned runs in five-plus innings. Rakuten grounded into two double plays.

Kotaro Kurebayashi hit a two-run homer for Orix. The Buffaloes managed seven hits. Rakuten finished with 11. Rakuten improved to 39-61-1. Orix dropped to 51-52-2. Attendance was 22,689, and the game lasted 2:42.