Baseball: Buffaloes delay Marines' march into playoffs

Yutaro Sugimoto put a damper on the Lotte Marines' hopes of clinching a playoff spot Saturday afternoon, when he homered twice in the Orix Buffaloes' 4-1 Pacific League win that left Lotte's postseason plans in limbo. Sugimoto broke a 1-1 fourth-inning tie at Chiba's Zozo Marine Stadium east of Tokyo with a solo home run, his 15th, and tacked on Orix's final run in the ninth with his 16th. It was Sugimoto's first multi-homer game of the season. He led the PL in home runs in his 2021 breakout season but managed just 15 in an injury-plagued 2022. "I haven't been hitting for extra bases that much...