Submariner Shunsuke Watanabe started for Lotte and lasted only four innings before surrendering six runs, three earned, on eight hits and three walks. Satoru Komiyama then made his first relief appearance for the Chiba nine in 12 years and was done up for another two runs.

Seibu seized the upper hand early, as Akada leadoff the first with a single to center and rightfielder Tatsuya Ozeki singled to right. One out later, Watanabe plunked leftfielder Kazuhiro Wada on the ankle to load the bases. First baseman Masahide Kaizuka grounded to 
second and Akada crossed with a 1-0 advantage.

Lotte tied  it up, though, in the second when rightfielder Benny Agbayani walked and, one out later, third baseman Kiyoshi Hatsushiba 
singled to right. Catcher Tasuku Hashimoto walked to pack the sacks. One out later, shortstop Makoto Kosaka also worked a base on balls to force Agbayani in to make it 1-1.

But in the bottom of the second, Lotte leftfielder Matt Franco had his problems and it proved costly to his squad. Shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima singled to center. One out later, second baseman Hiroshi Hirao lined a shot to left that Franco misjudged and it sailed over his head to the wall, Nakajima blazing home on what was scored as a double. Akada then laced another liner to left that Franco didn't read properly and it, too, went to the wall for another gift double and a 3-1 lead. 

And the Lotte clown show continued in the fourth, as centerfielder Jun Inoue dropped Hirao's fly ball and he made it to second. Akada singled to center to plate Hirao. Ozeki walked. Third baseman Jose Fernandez grounded to Kosaka, who, in his haste to try to turn the double play, fumbled it and everyone was safe. Wada grounded into a 4-6-3 double play as Akada crossed. Kaizuka singled to right to cash Ozeki in and it was 6-1 Lions. 

Lotte would wait until the seventh to respond, when backup leftfielder Yukihiko Sato singled to right with one out and, one out later, Inoue doubled up the leftcenter alley that Sato was able to ride home on to put it at 6-2 Lions.

However, with two outs in the home episode, catcher Toru Hosokawa doubled down the leftfield line and Hirao doubled to rightcenter for the RBI. Akada blooped a double into center to chase Hirao in and make it 8-2 Seibu. 

Agbayani homered to center in the eighth and that was how it ended, 8-3 Lions. 

Nishiguchi racked up his first victory since April 28th and it was career number 110. At age 32, he has quit smoking in hopes it will help him stay in better shape. 

Tadahito Iguchi kicked the game off by tapping a slow ground ball toward third. Kuniyuki Kimoto charged the ball and then let it get by him and Iguchi hustled around to second before the ball was retrieved. Shortstop Munenori Kawasaki squared around to sacrifice and pushed the ball up the first base line and ended up beating it out. Valdez flew out to left and Iguchi tagged up and crossed for a 1-0 lead. 

In the third, Valdez singled to center and, one out later, catcher Kenji Johjima blasted one into the centerfield stands to make it 3-0. 

Gulin, though, was hurt by a pair of infield hits in the home portion. Rightfielder Tomochika Tsuboi beat out a ground ball toward short. Centerfielder Tsuyoshi Shinjo singled to left. The runners pulled off a successful double steal. Leftfielder Angel Echevarria singled to left to redeem Tsuboi. One out later, Kimoto legged one out for an infield hit and Shinjo crossed to to put it at 3-2 Hawks. Gulin then induced a 
comebacker and struckout Kazuteru Shimada to stay ahead.

They would equalize it in the sixth on a one out single to left by shortstop Makoto Kaneko and a double off the centerfield wall from Tsuboi
for a 3-3 deadlock.

Daiei, though, smoked the Fighters bullpen in the seventh. Iguchi singled to center and went to second on a sac bunt. Oshimoto was 
replaced by Akio Shimizu. Valdez singled to center. Tomokazu Iba entered to spell Shimizu. First baseman Nobuhiko Matsunaka walked to load the bases. One out later, centerfielder Hiroshi Shibahara rolled one between first and second and into right and two scored. Rightfielder Kazuhiko Miyaji singled to left for another pair and it was 7-3 Hawks.

From that point forward, Fighters reliever Yukihiro Sakurai took one for the team. With one down in the eighth, Kawasaki doubled into the rightfield corner. Valdez socked a Sakurai delivery into the rightcenterfield seats and it was 9-3 Hawks. 

It would then become a joke in the ninth. Shibahara singled to left and DH Julio Zuleta singled to center. One out later, Sakurai hit third baseman Mitsuru Honma with a pitch. Iguchi doubled to rightcenter and two runners were home. Kawasaki walked. Valdez singled to 
center for two RBIs. He was pinch run for by Takeshi Tsuji. Matsunaka grounded to second and another run was plated. Johjima doubled 
off the leftfield fence to drive a man in and take over the Pacific League RBI lead. Shibahara singled to center for the 16-3 final margin. 

Johjima has six homers in his last nine games. 

Michihiro Ogasawara made his first appearance in 14 games after going on the shelf due to a broken rib. He struckout in pinch hit duty. 

For Gulin, it was his first shiroboshi in a month. 

Zuleta had his troubles in this one even with the big offensive display. He struckout three of the five times he got to the plate. Daiei strcukout only seven times in 41 official at bats in the contest, so Zuleta's whiffs were more than 40% of his side's total and his average dropped to .262. 

Hiroshi Takamura started for Kintetsu and went five innings of one run ball, though his pitch count was somewhat elevated at 87. He didn't figure in the decision, however, because Hideo Koike and Katsunari Yoshikawa let a 4-1 lead slip through their fingers. 

Hisashi Ogura started for Orix and only got into the fourth before being expelled by manager Haruki Ihara upon permitting four runs on seven hits, which raised his ERA to 6.13.

Suzuki pitched fairly well, actually, allowing one unearned run on one hit and three walks in four innings, the tally coming partially as a result of a bad hop that was charged as an error to first baseman Jose Ortiz in the seventh.

Ogura got himself into a predicament inthe first, as Hoshino leadoff the match with a shot against the leftfield wall for a double and second baseman Eiji Mizuguchi walked. Two outs later, Ogura plunked first baseman Hirotoshi Kitagawa to load the bases. But rightfielder Daisuke Masuda grounded out and that opportunity went by the wayside.

Orix then had a man on third with one out and couldn't get him home. 

Things quieted down somewhat until the fourth, when the Buffs blew Ogura out of the water. Masuda doubled to leftcenter and Fumitoshi Takano doubled down the rightfield line to convert him. Catcher Akihito Fujii singled to right. One out later, Hoshino bigtimed a breaking ball into the rightfield bleachers to make it 4-0 and knock Ogura out of the game in favor of Suzuki.

In the bottom of the inning, Orix had the bases laoded and didn't bring anyone in again, which would ultimately prove costly.

But in the fifth, they did push one across on a walk to second baseman Keiichi Hirano and a double to rightcenter by leftfielder Yoshitomo Tani that provided Hirano enough cover to parade to the plate to contract the disparity to 4-1.

Next time up, Orix used a single to left by DH Takeshi Yamasaki off of Koike and a liner up the rightcenter gap that went for a run scoring triple for Hidemitsu Saito. Yoshikawa jogged in from the pen and, one out later, shortstop Mitsutaka Goto was hit by a pitch. Centerfielder Arihito Muramatsu singled to center for an RBI, goto going to third. Carrasco was summoned fromthe bullpen and Hirano flied out to left and Goto tagged up and scored to knot it at four all. 

But the ball woudl bounce Kintetsu's way. DH Kenshi Kawaguchi leadoff with a hard grounball that ate Ortiz up. Third baseman Norihiro Nakamura walked. The runners were sacrificed over. Masuda flied out to center and Kawaguchi tagged up and charged home to make it 5-4
Buffs.

Carrasco retired six of the next seven men and Kazuo Fukumori rang up a perfect ninth to secure the W. 

Hoshino wrote the number of the late Takahisa Suzuki on a piece of tape and stuck it to the inside of his cap. He has driven in seven runs in the last two games. 

But in much more important news, the Buffaloes are for sale. Team officials say that the team lost $36 million the last fiscal year and