Thursday brought us five games, with the Eagles and Fighters taking the day off, with three come-from-behind wins, and an important win for a big-name pitcher, while the curse of Japan’s obsession with one-run tactics helps trigger a late-inning implosion. All in a day’s baseball.

Before I get to the games, reader and all-around gracious gentleman David Laurila of Fan Graphs asked about Japan’s pension for pulling the outfield in so much, and I’ll share my answer after the game recaps.

Thursday’s games

Buffaloes 2, Lions 1: At Seibu Half Dome, Kohei Azuma (1-0) allowed a run on three hits over seven innings as Orix avoided being swept by Seibu and the right-hander improved to 8-0 in his career.

Brazilian Bo Takahashi (0-1) allowed two runs, one earned, on two walks and three hits. Yuichi Adachi created a 1-0 lead in the third. He drew a leadoff walk, took second on a passed ball, was sacrificed to third and scored on Kenya Wakatsuki‘s sacrifice fly. Masahiro Nishino doubled and scored on a single by DH and former Lion Tomoya Mori.

Shuta Tonosaki homered in the seventh before Andres Machado and Yoshihisa Hirano each put two runners on en route to a scoreless inning. Hirano’s 244th career save in Japan moved him out of a tie for fourth with former Tigers closer Kyuji Fujikawa. He is now eight shy of No. 3, Hall of Famer Kazuhiro Sasaki.