Baseball: Buffaloes beat Marines 3-2, cut magic number to 2

Orix Buffaloes starter Kohei Azuma threw seven innings of one-run ball as the reigning Japan Series champions inched closer to a third straight Pacific League pennant with a 3-2 victory over the Lotte Marines on Tuesday.

The PL leaders extended their margin over the second-place Marines to 13.5 games and cut their magic number to two with a third win in a row at Kyocera Dome Osaka.

Azuma (6-0) struck out five while allowing the solitary run on five hits, one walk and a hit batsman.

The Buffaloes plated two runs against Lotte starter Kazuya Ojima (8-5) in the first, taking the lead on Marwin Go...