 Marines win to advance to 2nd Round of Play-Offs
Nederlands
 TOKOROZAWA (Japan) -
Chiba Lotte Marines won 4-1 vs. Seibu Lions today (Monday, October 14) to win the best-of-three First Round of the Pacific League Climax Series 2-1 and advance to the Second Round.
For the Marines, it's their first trip to the next round since 2010.
The Marines now will meet Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles in a 6-game series, which begins next Thursday in Sendai.
The Golden Eagles, the team of Dutch player Andruw Jones, begins the series with an one-win advantage for finishing the regular season in first place in the Pacific League.
After four scoreless innings, the Marines opened the score in the fifth inning when Daichi Suzuki led off with a homerun.
The Marines then added a run in the sixth at bat, again via a lead-off homerun.
This time, Tadahito Iguchi drove the ball over the fence.
The Lions then got one run back in the home of the sixth when Yasuyuki Kataoka led off with a double, moved on a single by Takumi Kuriyama and scored on a sacrifice fly by Hideto Asamura.
A double play then ended the inning.
The Marines added two insurance runs in the eighth inning.
Lead-off hitter Yoshifumi Okada was hit by a pitch, then Toshiaki Imae walked with one out.
Hereafter, Katsuya Kakunaka followed with a triple that brough in both runners and lifted the lead to 4-1.
(October 14)
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