Nippon-Ham 2, at Orix 0

OSAKA (Interstat) — Hiromi Itoh pitched eight scoreless innings and the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters broke through late to beat the Orix Buffaloes 2-0 on Saturday afternoon at Osaka Dome. Itoh allowed four hits, struck out six and did not walk a batter while improving to 10-10. Anderson Espinoza took the loss despite a strong eight-inning start, yielding one earned run on five hits with seven strikeouts; he fell to 13-6. Taisei Yanagawa worked a perfect ninth, striking out two, to earn his 29th save. The game lasted 2 hours, 32 minutes and drew an announced attendance of 36,172. Nippon-Ham… Read more...