Tomoya Mori's two-run single kept the Orix Buffaloes alive Saturday and Yuma Tongu walked it off against the Seibu Lions 4-3 with a game-winning single.
A game that started as an ace pitchers' duel between the Lions' Kona Takahashi and the Buffaloes' Yoshinobu Yamamoto ended with Seibu closer Tatsushi Masuda (0-1) coughing up three ninth-inning runs.
With two outs and two on at Kyocera Dome Osaka, Keita Nakagawa hit a smash to the mound for an infield single, bringing up Mori, who moved from the Lions to his hometown team as a free agent over the winter. His third hit of the game tied it before Tongu put the league leaders on top.
"I wanted to keep it going after Mori's hit and was ready to go after the first strike I saw," said Tongu, who hammered a 1-2 pitch away to right for the opposite-field game-winning single.
Seibu's David MacKinnon broke open a scoreless game with a two-run sixth-inning home run off Yamamoto.
Takahashi scattered five hits, three walks and a hit batsman as he held the Buffaloes to a run over six innings. Yamamoto allowed two runs on seven hits and two walks while striking out six in his seven innings.
MacKinnon went 2-for-4 with a walk. He singled and scored an eighth-inning insurance run, but the Lions left the bases loaded, and paid the price for that in the ninth.
Elsewhere in the PL, Yuki Yanagita homered twice for the SoftBank Hawks in a 6-3 come-from-behind win over the Lotte Marines, while the Rakuten Eagles blanked the Nippon Ham Fighters 5-0.
In the Central League, the Chunichi Dragons edged the Yomiuri Giants 2-1.
