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 improved to 76-61-3. Orix dropped to 65-73-2.

The afternoon developed into a pitchers’ duel from the start. Itoh set down the side in order in the first, second and third. Ryoma Nishikawa, Ryoto Kita and Ryo Ohta each flew out in the first. Yutaro Sugimoto struck out swinging to open the second, and Yuma Mune and Kotaro Kurebayashi followed with a flyout and a groundout. Masahiro Nishino, Ryoma Yamanaka and Kenya Wakatsuki went down in the third. Itoh’s command kept Orix from mounting much early, and the Buffaloes managed only four hits in the game.

Espinoza matched him zero for zero through the early innings. Nippon-Ham’s first hit came in the third when Kota Yazawa singled to shallow center. Tatsuki Mizuno was hit by a pitch later in the inning, but Yua Tamiya struck out swinging to end the threat. In the fourth, Shun Mizutani was hit by a pitch, but Yuya Gunji flew out, Kotaro Kiyomiya sacrificed him to second and Chusei Mannami grounded out to second. Yazawa tripled to left-center in the fifth, but Mizuno struck out swinging with a runner on third. Nippon-Ham also put a runner on in the sixth when Yuki Nomura singled to shallow right, only for Gunji to ground into a double play.

Orix’s best early opportunity arrived in the fifth. Sugimoto doubled down the left-field line to lead off. Mune popped out to the catcher, Kurebayashi flew out to shortstop, and Nishino singled to the pitcher to put runners at first and third. Yamanaka then grounded out to third, ending the threat. Itoh stranded another runner in the sixth and retired the side in order in the seventh, keeping the game scoreless.

The Fighters finally broke through in the eighth. Ruan Ohtsuka struck out swinging, but Yazawa singled to first for his third hit. Mizuno sacrificed him to second with a bunt to third, and Tamiya singled to shallow left to drive in Yazawa. Nomura struck out looking to end the inning, but Nippon-Ham had a 1-0 lead. Espinoza finished with eight innings, five hits, one earned run and seven strikeouts. His record moved to 13-6.

Orix tried to answer in the bottom of the eighth. Kurebayashi struck out swinging, but Nishino doubled to left-center. With one out, Yamanaka struck out swinging. Wakatsuki then singled to shallow left, putting runners at first and third. Itoh responded by striking out Nishikawa looking, preserving the lead and finishing his outing. Itoh allowed four hits over eight innings, struck out six and kept Orix scoreless. He improved to 10-10.

Nippon-Ham added insurance in the ninth. Nobuyoshi Yamada replaced Espinoza and retired Gunji on a flyout to center. Ren Mukunoki then came in and allowed a solo home run to Kiyomiya to right, giving the Fighters a 2-0 advantage. Mukunoki recovered to get Mannami to ground out to shortstop and struck out Arizono swinging. Kiyomiya finished 1-for-3 with one home run and one RBI. Tamiya was 1-for-4 with one RBI, while Yazawa reached base in all three plate appearances and scored the first run.

Yanagawa took over in the ninth for Nippon-Ham and closed it out. He struck out Kita swinging, struck out Ohta looking and got Sugimoto to ground out to third. Yanagawa earned his 29th save with one perfect inning and two strikeouts. Nishino had two of Orix’s four hits and also doubled. Sugimoto also doubled for the Buffaloes. Orix could not capitalize on its few scoring chances, leaving runners in scoring position in the fifth and eighth.

The result continued a recent stretch for Nippon-Ham, which improved to 76-61-3. Orix fell to 65-73-2. Itoh’s performance came after a difficult previous start against Orix in which he allowed six earned runs over six-plus innings. On Saturday, he was sharp from the beginning, mixing his pitches and retiring Orix hitters without allowing an earned run. Espinoza was nearly his equal, but the one run he allowed in the eighth proved decisive until Kiyomiya’s homer added separation.

Nippon-Ham finished with six hits. Orix had four. Neither team generated much offense over the first seven innings, and the game turned on Tamiya’s two-out single in the eighth and Kiyomiya’s one-out homer in the ninth. Itoh’s eight-inning effort gave the Fighters exactly what they needed, and Yanagawa finished the job with a scoreless ninth. The win gave Nippon-Ham a road victory in the afternoon matchup at Osaka Dome.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters 7, Orix Buffaloes 8. Interstat’s ELO system had projected Nippon-Ham with a 57.6 percent probability to win. The actual game unfolded far differently, as Itoh and Espinoza turned the afternoon into a low-scoring duel before the Fighters found late offense and Yanagawa closed the door.