Lotte skipper Bobby Valentine decided to start the much beloved (and rightly so) Tomohiro Kuroki and a full house of 35,000 showed up to check it out. Unfortunately, it is evident that the great righthander, who baffled some of MLB's top starts a few years ago, still isn't ready to regain his old form after going down with shoulder trouble three years ago, as he walked seven, hit a man, and needed 91 pitches to get through 3.1 innings, departing in the wake of surrendering five runs, three earned, on five hits. He is fortunate that he played no role in the final decision. 

But also disappointing is Taiwanese righthander Chang Chia-chiah, who had seemed to find himself for a while and now looks to have lost his way again. In this one, he was mugged for five runs on eight hits and four walks in five plus innings to swell his ERA to 4.31.

Lotte went on the attack from the outset, as shortstop Makoto Kosaka singled to center commencing the first and second baseman Koichi Hori singled to right. One out later, Seung-yeop Lee crushed a Chang pitch through the wind blowing in from right into the rightfield bleachers and it was 3-0. 

Kuroki had walked a man in the first, but he was erased on a double play ball. The former ace also slipped through the second unscathed despite being tagged for a walk and a double. The third, though, would be the charm for Seibu. Second baseman Hiroyuki Takagi leadoff with a single to left. One out later, rightfielder Tatsuya Ozeki walked.  Third baseman Jose Fernandez singled to left for an RBI. Leftfielder Kazuhiro Wada walked to load the bases. First baseman Masahide Kaizuka laced a double up the leftcenter alley and Ozeki and Fernandez scampered in to tie at at three apiece. DH Scott McClain walked to repack the sacks. Nakajima grounded into a 5-2 force and catcher Toru Hosokawa struckout to keep it even. 

For whatever reason, Valentine then allowed Kuroki back on the mound in the fourth and put Lotte behind the eight ball. With one away, centerfielder Shogo Akada singled to center and Ozeki got aboard on Matt Franco's error at third base. Kuroki nailed Fernandez to juice the bags and free passed both Wada and Kaizuka that forced in a run each to put it at 5-3 Lions. Kuroki was finally escorted to the showers and Koji Takagi replaced him at the center of the diamond, whereupon Scott McClain grounded into a doubloe play to put this inning out of Lotte's misery. 

The home side pulled alongside Seibu  in the sixth when leftfielder Benny Agbayani singled off the centerfield wall (maybe he thought it was gone?), Franco walked and, after the were sacrificed up a base each, catcher Tasuku Hashimoto torched one down the rightfield line to redeem the baserunners for the 5-5 tie. 

But the Lions pulled it out when it counts. In the ninth, Fernandez and Wada both singled to right. One out later, Hiroyuki Oshima walked to jam the basepaths. Nakajima, who had been bothered by an eye infection the last few days, applied good wood to a first pitch 91mph fastball from the still puzzlingly ineffective Masahide Kobayashi and landed it in the leftcenterfield bleachers to put Seibu ahead 9-6. 

Lions closer Kiyoshi Toyoda, fresh off the disabled list, worked a 1-2-3 frame to turn out  the lights. 

Nakajima is 3-8 with an astonishing 13 RBIs in bases loaded situations just this season. Wow! He has a real shot at breaking Hideki Matsui's record for most RBIs ever by a 22 yrear old, 99. 

The last time a Lions player had two slams through May was possible future hall of famer Koji Akiyama, who did it in 1986 (one each in April and May).  Nice company! 
 

Photo: Slammin' Hiroyuki Nakajima Looking Grand!

Tsutomu Iwamoto started for Nippon Ham and had trouble putting hitters away. Though he permitted only two runs on eight hits in 5.1 innings, he had to go to the plate more than a hundred times. But thanks to the nine runs, he cadged a shiroboshi. 

Echevarria fired the opening fusillade, as he thundered an 87mph fastball into the centerfield bleachers at Sapporo Dome for a 1-0 advantage in the second. 

He then mortared a curve ball on the outer half of the plate into the leftfield stands to up that to 2-0 in the fifth.

Orix rallied to meet that challenge in the sixth, as rightfielder Roosevelt Brown doubled to rightcenter and, one out later, third baseman Kazuhiko Shiotani doubled off the leftfield fence to drive Brown in. Shortstop Mitsutaka Goto singled to left to chase Shiotani in and make it 2-2.

Nippon Ham broke it open in the bottom of the inning when shortstop Makoto Kaneko singled to right and, one out later, Shiotani booted Tsutomu Ishimoto's grounder. Third baseman Michihiro Ogasawara rammed a double into the rightfield corner and both runners set the controls for the heart of home plate. Seguignol singled to center and Ogasawara crossed. Makoto Suzuki was ushered in to take starter Motoyanagi's place and Echevarria decimated a fastball up and in and rocketed it deep into the leftfield seats and the Fighters were peering down at Orix 7-2.

In the seventh, Hiroshi Narahara cashed in Makoto Kaneko, who was aboard on a single to center, with a double into the leftcenter gap to widen that to 8-2 in the seventh and Seguignol connected for a missile to left in the eighth and that was how it ended, 9-2. Nippon Ham has won eight in a row at home. 

The last time a Nippon Ham player had dome some seat busting three times in consecutive at bats was on June 2, 2000, when Nigel Wilson 
pulled it off. 

Seguignol is being given the moniker of "Godzilla of the North" by the Japanese sports press. In the cleanup slot this season, he is batting .511 (13-25) with eight homers and 21 RBIs. During his tour of duty with Orix a couple of seasons back, he hit only .198 in the four hole. 

Ironically, Echevarria is still being bothered by a groin muscle problem, though he is keeping it loose by showing up at the ballpark early for extended pre-game workouts.
 

Photo:  Usually Reserved Angel Echevarria Doffs Cap During His Hero Interview

Rookie Takahiro Mahara started for Daiei and was solid in his third start already against the herd this season, as he held them to two runs on eight hits in seven innings. 

Kevin Beirne started for Kintetsu and wasn't as good, going seven innings of five run (four earned) ball on nine hits. 

The Hawks exploited a Buffs miscue in the first for an early lead, as shortstop Masahiro Abe threw  second baseman Tadahito's Iguchi's two out ground ball away, Iguchi advancing to second. First baseman Nobuhiko Matsunaka singled to center and Iguchi flashed across the plate for a 1-0 lead. 

Daiei leftfielder Pedro Valdez then announced his presence with authority in the second, powdering a Beirne pitch into the leftcenterfield seats to raise that to 2-0.

And Valdez would make another long distance runaround count for even larger amounts in the fourth when he succeeded a walk to Matsunaka and a single to left from catcher Kenji Johjima by buzzbombing a shot into the fifth level in rightcenter to stretch that gap to 5-0. 

Kintetsu reacted with a run in the fourth on Kawaguchi's single to right, a one out single to right that allowed Kawaguchi to move into third and a groundout by first baseman Hirotoshi Kitagawa to make it 5-1.

Abe then atoned for his error by taking Mahara on a tour of the leftcenterfield stands with two gone in the seventh. 

Daiei reliever Shinji Kurano retired the Buffs in order in the eighth, his seventh consecutive scoreless stint. Rookie Koji Mise and veteran Akio Mizuta, though, wouldn't duplicate that in the ninth.  Mise opened the frame and plunked Kitagawa with one out. Fumitoshi Takano jackhammered one into the rightcenterfield seats and it was a one run affair at 5-4. Manager Sadaharu Oh went to the bullpen for Mizuta and struck Abe out. But pinch hitter Osamu Hoshino reached on an infield hit. Centerfielder Naoyuki Omura singled to center. Second baseman Eiji Mizuguchi singled to left and it was 5-5. Kawaguchi conked one off the centerfield wall and Omura toed the dish for the game winner. It also terminates a four game losing streak suffered by Kintetsu against Daiei. 

After the game, Oh said that he shouldn't have used Mise, who had 17 appearances already going into the game.  He is on pace for around 80
appearances. 

Buffaloes reliever Motoyuki Akahori took the hill in Osaka for the first time in more than a year and tossed a scoreless inning on one hit, striking out two. 

Buffs third baseman Norihiro Nakamura was lucky not to have been ejected. After being rung up for called strike three in the fourth, he got in the plate umpire's face and a coach jumped in to separate the livid slugger from the official. He ultimately finished the night 2-4 to elevate his average to .275.