We had a five-hour “soroku sen” in Hiroshima Sunday and in Osaka the Orix Buffaloes left an impression on their nearest pursuers in the Pacific League pennant race.

Sunday’s games

Swallows 7, Carp 7, 12 innings: At New Hiroshima Citizens Stadium, the Hiroshima Carp used every active player on their roster — something known as a “total strength game” or “soroku sen.”

Otherwise, the game was marked by home runs and outs on the bases. Shota Suekane capped a six-run Hiroshima first inning with a grand slam. Domingo Santana‘s three-run fourth-inning homer put the Swallows up 7-6, when things started getting weird.

Suekane, Hiroshima’s right fielder, easily threw out a runner trying to score from second on a two-out single. Norichika Aoki was thrown out by a mile at home plate trying to score from first on a one-out Munetaka Murakami double to center in the sixth.

The Carp tied it on an error and a fluke two-out broken bat single in the eighth. In the 10th, Yakult’s Kazuya Maruyama was tagged out easily at home trying to score from second on a wild pitch that bounced as far as the visitors’ dugout, and the game ended when a Carp runner was tagged out at third when he overran the bag by about 15 feet.

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