Both teams entered Friday's Game 3 of their leagues' Climax Series final stage needing only a tie to advance.... Needing a win to stay alive in the best-of-seven series in which the league champ begins with one win and advances if the series ends in a tie, the Marines took an early lead in the seesaw game.... Shogo Nakamura put the Marines up 1-0 in the third, only for Yuma Mune's two-run sixth-inning homer to give the Buffaloes the lead....

The path of Typhoon Lupit is shown as of 9 a.m.on Aug.... The ninth typhoon of the year hit the southwestern Kyushu region Sunday before making landfall near Kure in Hiroshima Prefecture shortly past 5 a.m. Monday.... The weather agency's highest-level rain alert was issued at one point Monday morning for the town of Kitahiroshima in Hiroshima Prefecture, but there were no reports of injuries or houses being flooded there as of 8: 30 a.m., according to local firefighters....

Shingo Kawabata of the Yakult Swallows has a pinch-hit RBI single in the top of the 12th inning against the Orix Buffaloes in Game 6 of the Japan Series, at Hotto Motto Field Kobe in Kobe on Nov.... With the game tied 1-1 since the fifth inning, the Swallows broke through in the 12th against Orix's sixth pitcher, Ryo Yoshida.... With Japan Series games only allowed to go 12 innings before being called a tie, Kawabata represented Yakult's last chance to prevent the series from going to Game 7..

Yuhei Nakamura delivers a tie-breaking pinch-hit RBI single in the ninth inning for the Yakult Swallows in their 2-1 Central League win over the DeNA BayStars at Yokohama Stadium on Sept.... Cleanup hitter Munetaka Murakami singled to open the Swallows' ninth off lefty Edwin Escobar( 3-4), who left with two on and one out.... Yamasaki entered and retired star slugger Tetsuto Yamada but allowed the tie-breaking run to score on Nakamura's single....

Keiji Takahashi of the Yakult Swallows pitches against the Orix Buffaloes in Game 2 of the Japan Series at Kyocera Dome Osaka on Nov.... Rookie Orix lefty Hiroya Miyagi( 0-1) allowed a run on five hits and a walk while striking out seven over 7-2/ 3 innings.... Miyagi appeared completely in control as he retired the first 16 batters he faced and then bounced back in two gritty at-bats to keep the game scoreless after allowing back-to-back one-out singles in the sixth....