Buffaloes ground Eagles

SENDAI — Rookie Shohei Kojima went 3-for-4 and drove in a run in the No. 2 spot, and right-hander Satoshi Komatsu allowed two runs over six innings as the Orix Buffaloes edged the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 4-3 on Monday night.

Mitsutaka Goto had a sacrifice fly in the first and Takayoshi Kawabata added an RBI single in the second at Kleenex Stadium. Takahiro Okada and Kojima both chipped in with run-scoring singles in the third and sixth, respectively.

"I got a chance from the team, so I am trying every day to produce results," said Kojima. "I wanted to drive in a run for us no matter how I did it. I went up to my at-bat with that determination. I have a lot of good batters hitting after me, so I want to do my part to create situations to get on base."

Komatsu (3-4) scattered eight hits, struck out two and walked none. Yoshihisa Hirano got the final four outs for his fourth save. Satoshi Nagai (1-3) took the loss.

Luis Garcia went 4-for-4 for Rakuten. Teppei Tsuchiya hit a two-run triple in the fifth and an RBI single in the seventh for all of Rakuten's scoring.

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