YOKOHAMA (Interstat) — Shugo Maki hit a grand slam and the Yokohama BayStars rallied to beat the Yakult Swallows 5-3 on Saturday night at Yokohama Stadium. Maki’s one-out drive to left turned a two-run deficit into a two-run lead and proved to be the decisive swing in a game that drew 32,744 spectators and took 3 hours, 9 minutes to complete. The BayStars improved to 66-64-3, while the Swallows fell to 57-73-2. Yokohama won the finale of the weekend series after Yakult had taken Friday’s meeting. The game was played under evening conditions in Yokohama, Japan.

The BayStars entered the night looking to rebound from a 3-1 loss to Yakult on Friday at the same venue. Yokohama had won two of its previous three games before that defeat, including a 13-2 rout of Yomiuri on Sept. 15. Yakult had won Friday’s opener of the series and was seeking consecutive victories against its Central League rival. The Swallows had also won two of their previous five games, with a 6-5 victory at Chunichi on Sept. 12 and a 3-1 win over Hiroshima on Sept. 13.

The Swallows built their lead with a methodical attack. Yakult scored one run in the third inning and two in the fourth. The visitors finished with four hits and used two sacrifice flies to push runners home. Yukihiro Iwata doubled, and Haruto Tanaka and Domingo Santana each delivered a sacrifice fly. Yakult’s early pressure forced Yokohama starter Shuto Ogata to work around traffic. Ogata lasted five innings, allowing four hits and two earned runs with three walks and one strikeout. He left with the BayStars trailing, but the Yokohama bullpen kept the game within reach.

Yakult starter Hirotoshi Takanashi was sharp. Takanashi pitched five innings, yielding five hits and one earned run with three walks and six strikeouts. He kept Yokohama off balance for much of the night, but the BayStars finally broke through against the Yakult relief corps. Yokohama scored once in the first inning and then erupted for four runs in the sixth. The BayStars finished with eight hits, two more than their total from the previous night’s loss in the same ballpark.

The four-run sixth changed the game. Takeru Furuichi and Jerar Encarnacion opened the inning with singles, and Ryuki Watarai was hit by a pitch to load the bases. After Toshiro Miyazaki struck out swinging, Maki came to the plate and drove a ball to left for a grand slam. The homer cleared the bases and gave Yokohama a 5-3 advantage. Maki finished 1 for 3 with one home run and four RBIs. Furuichi, Takuma Hayashi, Tatsuo Ebina, Yoshitomo Tsutsugoh and Encarnacion also contributed hits as Yokohama spread its offense across the lineup.

Yakult could not answer. The Swallows went down in order in the eighth and threatened only briefly in the ninth. Yudai Koga walked with one out, but Souma Uchiyama flew out to center and Kazuya Maruyama grounded out to first to end the game. In the seventh, Yakult had gone down in order on flyouts by Tetsuto Yamada, Shu Masuda and Yukihiro Iwata. The Swallows did not get a runner past first base after the sixth.

Yakult’s bullpen had mixed results. Yuto Nakamura struck out all three batters he faced in one inning. Jesus Liranzo worked a scoreless inning, and Yuki Ishihara recorded two outs without allowing a hit and struck out one. Noboru Shimizu took the loss, falling to 2-3, after the decisive rally. Shimizu could not protect the lead handed to him by Takanashi and the earlier relievers, and Yokohama took advantage with its biggest inning of the night.

Yokohama’s relief work sealed the win. Masaki Iwata earned the victory with a scoreless inning, improving to 2-0. Masumi Hamachi and Naoki Wakamatsu each tossed a scoreless inning, with Wakamatsu striking out one. Sean Reynolds worked the ninth for the save, his 16th of the season, allowing no hits and one walk while striking out one. The bullpen combined to blank Yakult over the final four innings and protect the lead Maki had provided.

The game’s most important moment came with the bases loaded and one out. After Miyazaki’s strikeout, Maki fell behind in the count but did not miss his pitch. The ball carried over the left-field fence for a grand slam, silencing the Yakult side and energizing the home crowd. The grand slam was the difference in a game that had been controlled by Yakult’s pitching for much of the evening. It also continued Maki’s recent power surge. He had homered in recent games against Yakult and Yomiuri, and he remained a central figure in Yokohama’s lineup.

With the win, Yokohama moved to 66-64-3 and continued its push in the Central League standings. The BayStars had lost two of their previous three games against Yakult, including Friday’s 3-1 defeat, but they salvaged the series finale. Yakult dropped to 57-73-2. The BayStars finished the night with eight hits and took advantage of four walks and one hit batter. Yakult managed four hits and two sacrifice flies but could not sustain pressure after the middle innings. The Swallows had shown signs of life earlier in the week, but they could not hold a late lead Saturday. The loss left Yakult searching for consistency as the season moved toward its final stretch. Yokohama is scheduled to visit Hanshin on Sunday, while Yakult is set to visit Yomiuri.

Interstat’s game simulator projected a final score of Yokohama BayStars 2, Tokyo Yakult Swallows 0. Interstat’s ELO system gave Yokohama a 66 percent probability to win before the game. Yokohama had been installed as the pregame favorite with a spread of -1.5. The over/under line was 7.0, and the combined score was 8. The actual result exceeded the simulator’s projected margin.