Baseball: Sasaki outduels Yamamoto in Lotte’s win over Orix

Roki Sasaki threw seven scoreless innings to win a highly anticipated pitching duel with Yoshinobu Yamamoto as the Lotte Marines beat the Orix Buffaloes 2-0 on Friday night.

Sasaki (2-0) struck out 11, allowed only one single and walked two in a 105-pitch outing at Zozo Marine Stadium in Chiba, near Tokyo.

The 21-year-old right-hander was perfect through five innings before getting in and out of a two-on, no-out jam in the sixth.

Yamamoto (1-1), the Pacific League’s MVP the past two seasons, was charged with one run on five hits in six innings of work.

“I knew I couldn’t give up one run, so I ...