Onuma fashioned seven innings of three run ball (it should have been one) on five hits and struckout eight in being saddled with an undeserved defeat. 

Onuma was immersed in major hot water in the first, as Nippon Ham rightfielder Tomochika Tsuboi walked and centerfielder Tsuyoshi Shinjo ripped a 91mph fastball down the rightfield  line for a double. One out later, DH Fernando Seguignol walked to pack the sacks. Onuma wild pitched a run in. Leftfielder Angel Echevarria lofted a fly ball to right that Ozeki had to run for and he gloved, but then dropped it for a cheap double that brought Shinjo in and it was 2-0.

The Lions halved that in the second when third baseman Yoshihito Ishii walked with two outs and shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima singled to left, Ishii turning for third. Catcher Toru Hosokawa beat out a ground ball toward third and Ishii hustled to the plate to make it 2-1 Nippon Ham. 

Seibu had two on and one out in the fourth, but that went down the tubes on a strikeout and a groundout. Nippon Ham then rubbed salt in the wound when catcher Shinji Takahashi drilled a shot to the outfield. Due to the strong wind blowing from right to left, the ball, which probably would have left to leftcenter, was pushed more towards the leftfield line, but it went out anyway for a solo homer and a 3-1 advantage. 

Kazuyuki Hoashi climbed the hill for the eighth and he walked both first baseman Michihiro Ogasawara and Seguignol. Echevarria grounded into a 6-4-3 double play. Third baseman Kuniyuki Kimoto grounded to Nakajima, who threw the ball away and Ogasawara 
crossed to make it 4-1. Michiyama Yokoyama worked a perfect ninth and that was the ballgame. 

Shinjo went 2-4 to raise his average to .261. But the important number is that the Fighters are 10-0 when the former Hanshin Tiger and Met has two knocks or more in a game. 

Nippon Ham is 1-3 at Hakodate since 1995. 

Kazuya Motoyanagi started for Orix and did well enough to hang around into the eighth before Valdez applied the killing blow to the Blue Wave's hopes off of reliever Kato.

Daiei surged out to an early lead, as second baseman Tadahito Iguchi walked to begin things and went to third on shortstop Munenori Kawasaki's single to center. Valdez flied out to right and Iguchi tagged up and crossed to make it 1-0.

Daiei then got very little out of a rally in the fourth, as first baseman Nobuhiko Matsunaka whistled a double off the rightfield wall and catcher Kenji Johjima walked. DH Julio Zuleta singled to right to convert Matsunaka. Centerfielder Hiroshi Shibahara singled to right to load the bases. But it stopped there, as Motoyanagi stranded them with the score 2-0 Hawks.

Arakaki had a moment of weakness in the sixth when third baseman Ryota Aikawa singled to center and second baseman Keiichi Hirano singled to right. Leftfielder Yoshitomo Tani walked to juice the bags. Rightfielder Roosevelt Brown grounded to second and Aikawa was in to make it 2-1. First baseman Jose Ortiz struckout and centerfielder Ryutaro Tsuji grounded out and the one run lead remained intact.

In the seventh, with one out and a man on, Arakaki experienced discomfort in his knee and was yanked in favor of Akichika Yamada, who walked shortstop Hidemitsu Saito. But Yamada from that point forward retired everybody he faced through the end of the game.

In the eighth, the Hawks obtained some more breathing room when Kawasaki singled to right with one down. Tatsuo Kato took the ball from Motoyanagi and Valdez mashed a slider beyond the centerfield fence. Matsunaka went yard to right and it was 5-1. Yamada kept everyone 
on the infield in the ninth and this baby was a memory. Orix is now a seasonm worst eight games under .500. 

Iwakuma, though, did go nine innings and was charged with three runs on ten hits and 122 pitches. 

Nathan Minchey started for Lotte and wasn't too shabby himself, going six innings of three run ball on three hits. 

Kintetsu leapt on top in the first, as centerfielder Hiroaki Onishi walked and went to second on a sac bunt. One out later, third baseman Norihiro Nakamura launched an 86mph shuuto into the leftfield seats for a 2-0 lead. 

Lotte had a chance to dent Iwakuma in the second when first baseman Kazuya Fukuura cracked the first of his four hits, a single to center. 
Catcher Tomoya Satozaki grounded into a 6-4 force. Third baseman Kiyoshi Hatsushiba thrummed one down the leftfield line. However, rightfielder Saburo Omura flied out to spoil the opportunity.

The Buffs then tacked another one on in the third, as second baseman Eiji Mizuguchi singled to right and leftfielder Fumitoshi Takano doubled into the leftfield corner, Mizuguchi turning on the jets for the plate to make it 3-0.

But Lotte took a big bite out of that lead in the fourth on a single to center by centerfielder Benny Agbayani and a homer to right by Fukuura that contracted the disadvantage to 3-2 Kintetsu. 

Agbayani equalized it in the sixth when he flattened one into the centerfield stands for a 3-3 tie. 

Both sides had some chances to win this in regulation, but they couldn't deliver any two out hits and on into the 11th it went. Reserve catcher Masaumi Shimizu and Hatsushiba both singled to right. Omura was supposed to sacrifice, but he hit it back too hard at reliever Kazuo Fukumori, who started a 1-6-3 double play and that effectively deep sixed the inning. 

Kintetsu took its turn and Takano reached on an infield hit. Nakamura struckout. Rightfielder Koichi Isobe beat out a bunt. 
First baseman Hirotoshi Katagawa was intentionally walked. Hoshino got a 94mph fastball and crashed it off the centerfield wall and the Buffs carted off the W. 

Nakamura's dinger was his 299th.