Baseball: Schwindel’s solid debut lifts Buffaloes in thriller

New import Frank Schwindel had three hits in his Orix debut, breaking an eighth-inning tie with an RBI single to lift the Japan Series champion Buffaloes to a 2-1 Pacific League win Wednesday over the Rakuten Eagles.

The 30-year-old, who came to Japan with 528 career MLB at-bats under his belt, said he arrived at Kyocera Dome Osaka not knowing he would be in the lineup.

Orix’s Daiki Tajima (2-1) allowed a run over eight innings, and the Buffaloes tied it on Yuma Tongu’s seventh-inning pinch-hit single. Schwindel plated Tomoya Mori in the eighth inning before Mori recorded the game’s final out ...