On September 5, the 22nd game between Orix Buffaloes and Chiba Lotte Marines held at Kyocera Dome Osaka ended with Orix Buffaloes winning 7-6 in an extra inning.

Orix Buffaloes succeeded in taking the lead in the bottom of the 1st inning with an RBI infield hit by Ryoto Kita. However, starting pitcher Espinoza allowed a comeback in the top of the 2nd inning with a one-run lead after giving up three RBI hits. Furthermore, in the top of the 4th inning, he gave up Toshiya Sato 's 15th solo Home Run, making the score 1-4. Nevertheless, he showed steady pitch from the 5th inning onwards and left the mound after 6 innings with 104 pitches, 6 hits, 0 Walk or Hit by Pitch, 10 strike out, and 4 runs.

In the bottom of the 5th inning trailing by 3 runs, the lineup created a chance with runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out, partly due to an opponent's error. They added runs during infield grounders and closed the gap to 1 run with Ryoto Kita's RBI doble. Then, in the bottom of the 6th inning, Ryoma Ikeda hit an RBI doble to tie the game.

However, in the top of the 7th inning, the second pitcher Ryoga Tomiyama gave up consecutive RBI hits, leading to a situation where they were trailing by 2 runs again. Still, in the bottom of the 7th inning, Kotaro Kobayashi hit his 15th solo Home Run, and in the bottom of the 9th inning, Keita Nakagawa 's RBI hit with 2 outs and runners on 1st and 2nd brought the game back to a tie, leading to an extra inning.

In the top of the 10th inning, pitcher Machado survived a bases loaded crisis with 2 outs without giving up any runs, waiting for the lineup to rally. In the bottom of that inning, the leadoff hitter Haruto Watanabe hit a hit, and after that, two Walk and other plays created a bases loaded opportunity with 1 out. Finally, Ryo Ota decided the game with his third walk-off hit of the season.

Orix Buffaloes, who achieved a win with 7-6, overcame two deficits and secured their first series win in 7 series. Ryoto Kita recorded 3 hits and 2 RBI, while Kotaro Kobayashi and Keita Nakagawa each recorded 2 hits and 1 RBI.

On the other hand, for the defeated Chiba Lotte Marines, starting pitcher Kazuya Ojima pitched 5.1 innings with 100 pitches, 8 hits, 2 Walk, 7 strike out, and 4 runs (2 earned runs). The lineup recorded a total of 14 hits and 6 runs, including Sato's 3 hits and 1 RBI with a Home Run, and Ryusei Ogawa 's 3 hits, but the relief pitchers could not hold the lead.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Total
M 0 3 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 6
B 1 0 0 0 2 1 1 0 1 1 X 7

M Kazuya Ojima-Akira Yagi-Shunsuke Nakamori-Shota Suzuki-Rikuto Yokoyama-●Fumiya Ono
B Espinoza-Ryoga Tomiyama-Taisuke Yamaoka-Daiki Tajima-Reiji Higashiyama-○Machado

Text by Aoi Yokoyama