Baseball: Polanco powers playoff-chasing Marines past Lions

Gregory Polanco gave the Lotte Marines some breathing room with his Pacific League-leading 24th home run in Saturday's 5-1 win over the Seibu Lions. Polanco made it a 3-0 game in the third inning at Seibu's Belluna Dome just outside Tokyo with a two-run homer off hard-throwing right-hander Kaima Taira (10-7). With two outs and a runner on, Polanco lined the first pitch he saw, a hanging splitter, into the right-field stands. "I wanted to swing aggressively at a pitch in the zone, and I hit it well," said Polanco, who joined Lotte this season after his 2022 Japan debut with the Central League's...