Daiei starter Kazumi Saito, much like Orix' Trey Moore did earlier in the season, gave up a ton of runs again, six (three earned), on six hits in seven innings and yet still emerged with the shiroboshi. Koji Mise, who just about already has Rookie of the Year locked up, then fashioned two innings of one hit ball for his 12th save. 

Chang Chia-chiah started for Seibu and was outstanding for 6.1 innings of six hit, one run ball before reliever Shinji Mori went up in flames and lost it. 

Seibu dented Saito in the first, as centerfielder Shogo Akada reached on first baseman Nobuhiko Matsunaka's error and went to second on a sac bunt. Jose Fernandez crashed one off the leftfield wall for a double and a 1-0 lead. Leftfielder Kazuhiro Wada walked. However, first baseman Masahide Kaizuka bounced into a 6-4-3 double play and Saito escaped with minimal damage. 

Chang, though, had some control issues in Daiei's turn. With one out, centerfielder Hiroshi Shibahara singled to left and DH Julio Zuleta singled to center. Rightfielder Kazuyuki Takahashi walked to load the bases. One out later, Chang walked Iguchi to force Shibahara in. Shortstop Munenori Kawasaki ripped a shot headed for rightcenter, but it was intercepted in transit by second baseman Hiroyuki Takagi for the third out. 

Saito then became the one with the defective command and boy, did he get punished for it. Third baseman Hiroshi Hirao and shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima both walked. They were sacrificed up 90 feet apiece. DH Yoshihito Ishii struckout, but the ball went to the backstop and Hirao crossed while Ishii was safe at first. Akada doubled to center to plate Nakajima. Saito plunked rightfielder Tatsuya Ozeki. Fernandez flew out to right and Ishii tagged up and hustled in. Wada grounded to third baseman Mitsuru Honma, who misfired on the peg to first and Akada blazed around. Kaizuka singled to right and Ozeki headed to the promised land for a 6-1 advantage. Hirao walked to pack the sacks. Nakajima, though, has been in a slump recently with runners in scoring position and he flied out to center to bring the craziness to a close. 

Daiei had men on first and third with nobody out in the third, but a couple of infield foulouts and a fly to right extinguish that opportunity.

Saito found a groove and permitted only two hits and a pair of walks through the seventh since that disastrous second. Mori entered from 
the bullpen to commence the eighth for Seibu and Matsunaka torqued a double down the rightfield line and catcher Kenji Johjima walked. They moved up on a groundout to the right side. Zuleta singled to center to cash Matsunaka and Johjima in. Takahashi singled to right. Yudai Deguchi walked to juice the bags. Iguchi wanted to at least bring Zuleta in on a sa cfly and was thus looking for something up that he could drive. He got a 91mph fastball above the belt and on the outer half and Bret Boone-like went with it to the opposite field and into the rightfield stands for his seventh career grand slam and a 7-6 Hawks edge. Chikara Onodera spelled Mori, who was given a map to the Western League and told to go there. Against the Hawks this season, the veteran righthander has been tattooed for 12 hits and 15 runs in 5.1 innings. No, that is not a typo. 

Once Onodera completed his warmup tosses, he induced a groundout from Kawasaki, but then walked leftfielder Pedro Valdez and Matsunaka before Johjima flied out to bring the curtain down on the scoring bonanza. 

Mise nailed Takahiro Sato to leadoff the bottom of the eighth, but a flyout and a twin killing did that difficulty in. Ozeki then kicked off the ninth with a single to right. Mise, with the meat part of the Seibu order coming up, successively fanned Fernandez, Wada and second baseman Hiroyuki Takagi to turn the lights out and hand Daiei skipper Sadaharu Oh his 999th managerial triumph and a threegame losing streak. It also made a three game skid they had suffered at Nagano over the last three years disappear. 

Fun fact about Iguchi: his first pro knock was a grand slam. Too, he has had at least one slam in each of his last four seasons. 

Oh needs 36 more wins to surpass former Yomiuri teammate Shigeo Nagashima for tenth on the all time list. 

Aging sidearmer Tetsuya Shiozaki, who should have retired after last season, will stand in for Mori while the latter is down on the farm. Onodera will assume the setup duties, if press reports are correct. 

Carlos Mirabal started for Nippon Ham and lasted only 3.2 innings of four run ball (two earned) on eight hits to inflate his ERA to 5.96. So it was left for reliever Naoyuki Tateishi to grab the win.

Masato Yoshii, it's time to retire guy! In his first start of the year, he was cuffed around for five runs (three earned) on five hits in 1.2 innings and was hung with the defeat. 

Orix got off to a 1-0 lead in the first when centerfielder Arihito Muramatsu doubled down the leftfield line to open the game and went to third on a groundout. Rightfielder Roosevelt Brown singled to left to push the run across. 

Yoshii managed to snake himself out of a bases loaded fix in the first and then saw his teammates enlarge their advantage in the second. Third baseman Kazuhiko Shiotani got aboard on shortstop Makoto Kaneko's error. One out later, catcher Takeshi Hidaka laced a double into the rightfield corner for an RBI double. Hidaka went to third on a groundout. Muramatsu singled to center to pick Hidaka up and it 
was 3-0 Orix. 

Unfortunately, prosperity apparently didn't suit Yoshii. Second baseman Kuniyuki Kimoto cracked a one out single to left. Kaneko walked. Rightfielder Tomochika Tsuboi slapped one to Yoshii, who wheeled to start the double play, but threw it into centerfield and Kimoto found his way home. Centerfielder Tsuyoshi Shinjo wacked an 88mph fastball between third and short and into left for his first RBI hit with runners in scoring position in 12 games. Ogasawara then got a cookie, a 1-0 fastball down and in the middle of the plate and teed off, depositing it on a low line into the rightcenterfield seats for a 5-3 Fighters advantage. 

In the third, Orix leftfielder Yoshitomo Tani homered to straightaway center to make it 5-4 Fighters. 

After both teams blew two on and two out chances, Nippon Ham obtained some breathing room in the fifth. Kaneko singled to left with one out and Tsuboi was hit by a pitch. Shinjo singled to center and the bases were loaded. Ogasawara grounded to first baseman Jose Ortiz, who threw to shortstop Hidemitsu Saito, who relayed it to reliever Shinji Taninaka covering first and Taninaka geeked it for an error and Kaneko was across. First baseman Fernando Seguignol ratcheted a shot off the leftfield wall for a double and an 8-4 lead. 

In the sixth, Fighters catcher Shinji Takahashi pinged one off the centerfield wall for a one out double and Kimoto got on due to an infield hit. Kaneko singled to left to score Takahashi to make it 9-4.

Shiotani homered to left for Orix in the eighth, but that would be the Blue Wave's last hit and that was your ballgame. 

Ogasawara has a .469 OBP and a .584 SLG this season. There is little he has yet to prove, so it's too bad that his chances of coming to 
MLB are almost nil. 

Mirabal's numbers are pretty ugly.  He's surrendered 81 hits in 68 innings and 12 of those safeties have left the yard. The league is hitting .290 against him. On the plus side, he is averaging less than three walks per nine.