Satoru Kanemura started for the Fighters in a return trip to his team's old stomping grounds and permitted four runs on five hits for the victory. 

Kintetsu centerfielder Naoyuki Omura commenced things with a single to right and was sacrificed to second. One out later, third baseman Norihiro Nakamura singled to right and Omura blazed across to make it 1-0.

That lasted about five minutes. In the bottom of the first, Nippon Ham DH Tomoyuki Oda pounded a shot into the centerfield seats to tie it up. Seguignol, from the lefthand batter's box, then untied it when he slugged a Kawajiri delivery into the rightcenterfield stands and it was 2-1 Fighters. 

They then broke it open in the second, as Kuniyuki Kimoto singled to left and second baseman Kensuke Tanaka smoked one up the leftcenter alley. Kaneko singled to left to drive both runners in. Catcher Satoshi Nakajima singled to center. Rightfielder Tomochika Tsuboi, though, grounded into a 4-6-3 double play. Shinjo, in his first start in four games after being hit in the knee with a pitch, wrong fielded one into the rightfield bleachers for a 6-1 lead. Shinjo said after the game that he was trying to pull that pitch, but somehow it went out the other way. 

Yasunari Takagi came on for Kintetsu in the third and was greeted by Seiguignol, this time in the righthand batter's box, taking him over the rigthcenterfield wall to put it at 7-1 Fighters. 

Kintetsu then got a leadoff double to right in the fourth and he moved to third on a groundout and scored when first baseman Hirotoshi Kitagawa grounded to second to make it 7-2 Nippon Ham.

In the sixth, Omura walked and, two outs later, Nakamura lined a two run homer to right, the 298th dinger of his career, and it was 7-4 Fighters. 

The Buffs then used some control problems from Fighters reliever Akio Shimizu to creep closer in the eighth. Second baseman Eiji Mizuguchi, Isobe and Nakamura all walked to load the bases with one out. Kitagawa grounded to first and Mizuguchi crossed to make it 
7-5. DH Kenshi Kawaguchi struckout to keep the Fighters lead intact.

But Akira Okamoto, just back from the ranks of the wounded for Kintetsu, wasn't sharp in the home episode. Tanaka powdered one into the rightfield seats. Kaneko doubled into the leftfield corner and stole third. One out later, Tsuboi walked. Somehow, before Shinjo doubled to leftcenter, Kaneko scored. Maybe in a failed pickoff and rundown of Tsuboi? There's no passed ball, error or wild pitch, so that's the only thing I can think of. In any event, it was now 9-5. 

Michiya Yokoyama closed it out with a perfect ninth to put it in the books. 

Seguignol has gone yard from the left and right sides in tha same game four times, the most of any foreign player and only behind record holder Hiromi Matsunaga's six. This was the first time he did it this season. 

With the bomb, Nakamura has attained double figures in homers for ten straight season. 

The opposite field roundtripper was only the fifth of his career, and that includes both NPB and MLB action. 

Tanaka finished a single short of the cycle. 

Nate Minchey started for Lotte and went six strong innings before losing it in the seventh, but the bullpen managed to bend and not break for Minchey's had his third win against two losses. 

Trey Moore started for Orix and was pulled after 4.1 innings of three run, six hit ball while walking five and inflated his ERA to 6.29 in defeat. 

Orix siezed the upper hand in the first when second baseman Keiichi Hirano singled to right with one out and leftfielder Yoshitomo Tani singled to right, Hirano turning and burning for third. Rightfielder Roosevelt Brown grounded to second and Hirano crossed for a 1-0 lead.

Moore and Minchey survived two on, two out jams in the second and then Lotte used Moore's wildness in the third as the basis for grabbing a lead. Second baseman Koichi Hori walked and was out on a 1-6 force off of a ground ball to Moore by rightfielder Saburo Omura. DH Matt Franco walked. Leftfielder Benny Agbayani singled to center to load the bases. First baseman Kazuya Fukuura doubled into the leftcenter alley and it was 2-1 Lotte. 

They added another in the fifth, as Omura crashed a shot off the rightfield wall for a double, went to third on a groundout, and completed the circuit on a double to rightcenter by Agbayani to widen it at 3-1. 

But in the seventh, Orix catcher Takeshi Hidaka blew a Minchey offering up real good for free and left the remains in the rightfield seats to make it 3-2. When shortstop Mitsutaka Goto doubled to leftcenter, Valentine went to Dan Serafini, who struck centerfielder Arihito Muramatsu out. Yasuhiko Yabuta was then called on and he walked pinch hitter Daisuke Maeda. But Tani struckout and Brown grounded out to maintain the 3-2 Lotte advantage. 

However, Ortiz singled to left off of Shingo Ono leading off the eighth and third baseman Kota Soejima walked. Koji Takagi jogged in from the pen and the runners moved up on a sac bunt. But Hidaka bounced a comebacker to Takagi, who held  Ortiz and went to first for the out. Goto flew out and Lotte was still hanging on. 

Akira Otsuka, making a rare start in center for Lotte in this one, went yard to left off of Hisashi Takano in the home ups for some huge insurance and a 4-2 advantage. It was Otsuka's second dinger of the year.

So it was turned over to Kobayashi in the ninth. Muramatsu struckout on some 94mph heat. Ryota Aikawa walked. Tani popped up to second. But Brown singled to center and Ortiz was up as the winning run. Kobayashi, though, put him away to seal it. 

Koji Onuma started for Seibu and was done up for four runs on eight hits in seven innings and was afflicted with the loss. 

The Hawks initially had the advantage, as shortstop Munenori Kawasaki singled to center with one out and stole second. One out later, catcher Kenji Johjima singled to left and Kawasaki rushed to the plate to make it 1-0.

But the Lions surmounted that in their half of the inning, as rightfielder Tomoaki Sato walked and went to second on a sacrifice. One out later, leftfielder Kazuhiro Wada walked. Third baseman Hiroshi Hirao lasered one into the rightfield corner for a triple and a 2-1 lead. 

Seibu widened it to a two run disparity in the second when centerfielder Shogo Akada singled to left, went to second on a sac bunt and went home on a single to center by second baseman Hiroyuki Takagi and it was 3-1 Lions.

Daiei, though, took that run back in the third, as second baseman Tadahito Iguchi went down and got a slider on the outer half of the plate
and lashed it into the rightcenterfield bleachers to make it 3-2 Seibu.

In the sixth, the Hawks pulled alongside Seibu when Johjima, though partially fooled, lifted a hanging curve ball into the leftfield seats for
a 3-3 tie.

Wada got out of a men on second and third, two out problem in the Lions ups and then saw his teammates combine a double to rightcenter by third baseman Mizuki Tanaka and a gapper to leftcenter by speedster Kazuyuki Takahashi on a 1-0 88mph fastball up in the zone for an RBI triple and a 4-3 Hawks lead. Incredibly, though, they couldn't get Takahashi home, and so a one run game it stayed. 

Shinji Mori then couldn't find the strike zone with a laser scope in the eighth and Daiei cadged a bit of separation. Kawasaki doubled to leftcenter. Leftfielder Pedro Valdez and Johjima each walked to pack the sacks. With the infield up, DH Julio Zuleta grounded into a 4-2 forceout. But pinch hitter Yudai Deguchi walked to force Valdez in. Takahashi also walked to bring Johjima in and it was 6-3 Hawks. 

Wada gave up a single and walked a man in the bottom of the inning, but he also struckout the side. In the ninth, pinch hitter Scott McClain singled to left. That was neutralized on a double play ball and then Sato struckout to ice it. 

Wada was clocked at a high of 86mph, four to five mph lower than usual. He is, though, back to putting more torque on his slider so that it has increased sink on it. Again, what the effect of that will be in terms of wear and tear as the season progresses is worth watching. 

Iguchi has settle in nicely into the leadoff role, as he is 11-30 (.367). 

Lions shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima is leading the league in RBIs, but Friday, he took a golden sombrero home (four strikeouts) to reduce his average to .333..