Hisanori Yasuda hit a walk-off double in the 10th inning as the Lotte Marines advanced to the final stage of the Pacific League Climax Series playoffs with a dramatic 4-3 come-from-behind victory over the SoftBank Hawks on Monday.
Lotte won the best-of-three first stage against SoftBank two games to one. Before Yasuda's two-out double scored Hiromi Oka from first base, Yudai Fujioka tied the game at 3 with a three-run home run at Zozo Marine Stadium in Chiba, east of Tokyo.
The third-place Hawks pushed the second-place Marines to the brink of postseason elimination by taking a 3-0 lead in the top of the 10th on three consecutive RBI hits.
The Marines will face the first-place Orix Buffaloes in the best-of-seven final stage beginning Wednesday at Kyocera Dome Osaka.
