Baseball: Yamamoto gets past WBC teammate as Buffaloes beat Fighters

Orix Buffaloes ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto went head to head with Japan World Baseball Classic teammate Hiromi Ito and just barely scraped out a 1-0 victory over the Nippon Ham Fighters on Saturday. At Es Con Field Hokkaido, Ito (7-8) was in top form, allowing a run on two first-inning hits while striking out 11 without a walk over the distance against the Pacific League leaders. While Orix's run was as close as can be, with Ryoma Ikeda doubling and barely beating the tag on a good throw to the plate on a one-out Keita Nakagawa single, Yamamoto (13-5) was often under the gun with runners on base. "...