Orix Buffaloes manager Satoshi Nakajima, top, is tossed in the air by his players at Kyocera Dome Osaka after the team clinched the Pacific League baseball title on Oct. 27, 2021.(Kyodo)

       SENDAI (Kyodo) -- The Lotte Marines quest for their first Pacific League pennant in 16 years ended on Wednesday in a 2-1 loss to the Rakuten Eagles that handed the championship to the Orix Buffaloes.

       The Buffaloes, whose regular season ended on Monday, watched the game from their home park, Kyocera Dome Osaka, and celebrated after the final out. Lotte entered Wednesday's game needing two wins and a tie from their final three games to capture the title.

       The Buffaloes' championship is the franchise's first since the Orix BlueWave won the league and Japan Series in 1996.

       With the game tied 1-1 in the bottom of the eighth, Hiroto Kobukata singled in pinch-runner Yuya Ogo with one out to break the deadlock off Marines setup man Chihaya Sasaki (8-1). A double play kept the game close, but Taiwan right-hander Sung Chia-hao struck out the side to end it in the ninth and record his seventh save.

       Tomohito Sakai (4-3) allowed a single but no runs in the eighth to earn the win in relief.

       The Marines opened the scoring in the first on a Takashi Ogino leadoff single and a two-out Brandon Laird double against right-hander Takahiro Norimoto, who worked three innings. Norimoto struck out five, and ended the game with 1,501 for his career, the 57th most in Japanese pro baseball history.

       Rakuten rookie Takahisa Hayakawa took the mound in the fourth and threw three perfect innings of relief, allowing the hosts to tie it off Lotte lefty Kazuya Ojima in the fifth.

       Ojima retired 14 of the first 15 batters he faced but was unable to preserve the lead indefinitely. He issued a two-out walk before back-to-back singles tied it.

       In the eighth, Rakuten's Hiroaki Shimauchi beat out a leadoff infield single for his third hit of the game. A sacrifice and an intentional walk put two on for Hiroto Kobukata, who scored Ogo.

       The Marines will now finish second and host the Eagles in the first stage of the best-of-three PL Climax Series on Nov. 6.

       The Central League playoffs start the same day, with the third-place Yomiuri Giants at Koshien Stadium, the home of the second-place Hanshin Tigers.

       The first-stage winner in each league will then play their league champions, the PL's Buffaloes, and the CL's Yakult Swallows, for the right to go to the Japan Series.

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