Roki came, and the Marines conquered, when the three national team pitchers who started combined for 21 scoreless innings. Masahiro Tanaka, who’d said last year he’d be willing to suit up for the national team, started his game like he should have been there but was unable to maintain that in one of the night’s two high-scoring games.

Friday’s games

Marines 3, Hawks 2: At Chiba Marine Stadium, Roki Sasaki (3-0) was not the untouchable strikeout machine of his first two starts this year, but still ran his scoreless innings streak to 20, as he struck out eight over seven innings while allowing a walk and three hits.

Shota Takeda (0-1) kept Lotte from giving Sasaki a lead until a three-run Marines fourth inning. Lotte catcher Toshiya Sato tripled in two with two outs and scored on a Taiga Hirasawa single. The Hawks got on the board in the eighth against Luis Perdomo with Akira Nakamura singling in Shu Masuda.