Chang Chia-chiah started for Seibu and was superb, going eight innings of one run, four hit ball while striking out ten, only to lose credit for the decision when closer Kiyoshi Toyoda was taken downtown by Fighters leftfielder Angel Echevarria in the ninth. 

Carlos Mirabal started for Nippon Ham and was also outstanding, going eight innings of two run ball on six hits, but he was behind when he 
departed from the game. 

Chang struckout the side in the second as the two clubs jockeyed for some offensive traction. It would remain scoreless until the fifth, 
when Seibu shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima singled to center and went to second on a sacrifice. Second baseman Hiroyuki Takagi laced a double down the leftfield line for an RBI and a 1-0 lead.

In the sixth, they doubled that when third baseman Jose Fernandez doubled to rightcenter and went to third on a groundout. First baseman Masahide Kaizuka flew out to center and Fernandezx tagged up and strode in to make it 2-0 Lions. 

Chang, though, was finally figured out in the bottom portion when first baseman Michihiro Ogasawara singled to right with one out and DH Fernando Seguignol walked. One out later, third baseman Kuniyuki Kimoto singled to right to pick Ogasawara up to shorten the Seibu advantage to 2-1. 

Chang worked a perfect seventh and eighth and then passed the ball to Toyoda for the ninth. Echevarria leadoff and got real gone to leftcenter to level it at 2-2. Toyoda then retired the next three men and into bonus time we go. 

With two outs in the tenth, Seibu DH Tomoaki Sato rammed a shot off of Shibakusa's body for an infield single. Centerfielder Shogo Akada 
singled to center. Shibakusa plunked Fernandez to load the bases. Wada, who had been hitless in his last nine plate appearances, got a 3-2
pitch on the outer half of the plate and went with it, parking it in the rightfield stands and Seibu was in front 6-2. It was also Wada's 100th goner of his career and his first in five games. From there, Toyoda put the Fighters away in order to vulture the shiroboshi for himself. 

Wada, who has a .321 lifetime average, is the 233rd man to the century mark in homers. He has ongoing discomfort in his back and is playing through it. 

Nippon Ham centerfielder Tsuyoshi Shinjo squirted a slider between third and short and into left for his 1000th career knock. However, this game also broke a ten game winning streak in contests were Shinjo had multiple hits. 

The craptacular Hisashi Ogura started for Orix and was abused for five runs on five hits in three innings and then his two most immediate successors were tagged for six apiece before Hisashi Tokano slowed things down by permitting a run and Takashi Aiki tossed a scoreless frame to keep the Hawks under 20. 

The game was only a few pitches old before leadoff man and second baseman Tadahito Iguchi went yard to leftcenter for a real quick 1-0 lead. 

Orix, though, actually bridged that disparity to pass Daiei for a few minutes, as rightfielder Roosevelt Brown doubled to rightcenter in the second and went to third on a sac bunt. One out later, catcher Takeshi Hidaka walked. Third baseman Hiroki Fukutome, in his first at bat 
of the season, deposited a Saito delivery into the leftfield bleachers and it was 3-1 Blue Wave.

But Ogura would have to reckon with the Daiei lineup again in the third. Third baseman Mitsuru Honma singled to center and Iguchi singled to right. Shortstop Munenori Kawasaki singled to right to load the bases. Ogura hung a forkball to Valdez, who poleaxed it into
the rightcenterfield stands for his first granny in Japan to put the Hawks up 5-3. 

In the fifth, Daiei locked it up against reliever Shinji Taninaka when Kawasaki torched a one out double down the leftfield line and Valdez and first baseman Nobuhiko Matsunaka walked to pack the sacks. Catcher Kenji Johjima went with a slider on the outer half and hefted it just inside the rightfield foul pole to make it 9-3. Centerfielder Hiroshi Shibahara singled to center. DH Julio Zuleta lowered the boom and
the ball sailed out to leftcenter for an 11-3 lead. Jun Hagiwara was tapped to stand in Taninaka's place and he walked both rightfielder Kazuyuki Takahashi and Honma. Iguchi singled to center and it was 12-3. 

Hagiwara said, "may I have another, sir?" in the sixth and Johjima obliged by hooking a drive just inside the leftfield foul pole to make it 
13-3.

Orix retaliated in the bottom of the inning with a single to left by centerfielder Ryota Aikawa and a double to left from leftfielder Yoshitomo Tani. Brown singled to right to chase in both runners and it was 13-5 Hawks. First baseman Jose Ortiz bounced into a double play and, 
after a walk, Saito lured Fukutome into striking out and his night was done. 

Hagiwara received more punishment in the seventh, as Honma tripled to center and Iguchi flied out to left for a sac fly. Kawasaki walked. Valdez singled off the rightfield wall. Matsunaka doubled to to rightcenter to plate Kawasaki. Hisashi Tokano replaced Hagiwara. Johjima singled to center and Valdez was in. One out later, Zuleta singled to center and it was 17-5 Hawks. 

Daiei fired one more burst in the eighth on a double to left by Honma, who would finish a homer short of the cycle, a single to left by 
Iguchi, and a single to right from Kawasaki to make it 18-5.

Makoto Sato struckout the side in the bottom of the frame. Aiki worked a perfect ninth. In the final home ups, Orix second baseman Keiichi Hirano singled to right and backup catcher Daisuke Maeda  singled to right, Hirano going to third. Aikawa flied out to left and Hirano crossed. Tani grounded into a game ending double play and this was past tense. Daiei has now won four straight. and Orix has been defeated in their last five tilts with the Hawks. 

Everyone in the starting lineup for Daiei had at least one hit and a run scored. Iguchi lead the way with four hits in five official times up and Johjima drove in six runs while Iguchi and Zuleta accumulated three RBIs and Valdez four. Johjima now leads the league with 52 RBIs and he needs one more knock for 1000. 

On the two slams, it was the tenth time in Pacific League annals that a team has done that and the 16th in Japanese history. The last time that Daiei had two slams in a game was on 8/20/1999, when Koji Akiyama and Hiroki Kokubo did it. When the club was owned by Nankai,
they did it on 7/17/1980 against Lotte at Osaka Stadium (which was torn down a few years ago), Shinsaku Katahira and Keisuke Okamoto
doing the honors. 

There were three grand slams in the PL Sunday, the first time since May 26, 1996 that has occured. It has been done five times in the Central League. 

Kintetsu stampeded to an initial lead, as second baseman Eiji Mizuguchi singled to right and went to second on a groundout. Third baseman
Norihiro Nakamura walked. Rightfielder Koichi Isobe singled to center and it was 1-0.

Takagi was pitching brilliantly until the fourth, when leftfielder Benny Agbayani powdered one over the centerfield wall to knot it at one 
all. 

Kintetsu had a man on third with one out, but a strikeout and a groundout neutralized that opportunity. 

Lotte would then take the game in hand in the sixth. Centerfielder Akira Otsuka doubled into the leftfield corner and went to third on a groundout. One out later, Agbayani was intentionally walked. Franco strafed the rightfield seats and Lotte was up 4-1. 

The only opening that Kintetsu would be presenrted with was in the eighth, when Shimizu hit Mizuguchi with two outs and Fumitoshi Takano singled to right. Nakamura dug in with a chance to even it with one pass of the bat, but he took a 92mph fastball on the outside corner for called strike three. Nakamura went nuts and was ejected for arguing balls and strikes. It was his first career ejection. 

Masahide Kobayashi exited the bullpen for Lotte to begin the ninth. Isobe walked. First baseman Hirotoshi Kitagawa grounded into a twin killing. Daisuke Masuda singled to center. Tadatoki Maeda, though, flied out to center and Shimizu had his first win since April 30th. 

What did Nakamura say to the umpire? He told the press after the game that he shouted hetakuso (shitty call)! Nakamura also thought that the arbiter took too confrontational an attitude with him. But if you look at how umpires have been treated in Japan over the years, they haven't been confrontational enough. In MLB, umpires are largely protected. This has resulted in a lot of them indeed going overboard and 
causing things to get out of hand. But in Japan, where umpires have been sent to hospital after players assaulted them and the assailant 
only given a relative slap on the wrist, the umpires showing more guts will only win them respect as long as they don't take on the attitude that a lot of MLB umpires have the last decade, that they are more important than the game and who cares if they miss important calls every now and again.