But Nippon Ham lost Yusaku Iriki maybe for as long as a month, as he hurt his hamstring in the fourth inning and had to be removed from both the game and the roster. 

The Fighters pulled out to a 1-0 lead in the first, as rightfielder Tomochika Tsuboi singled to center and, one out later, red hot third baseman Michihiro Ogasawara scorched a shot into the rigthfield corner and Tsuboi motored around the basepaths to the plate on the double. 

That would disappear about five minutes later. In the second, Daiei catcher Kenji Johjima walked with one away and centerfielder Hiroshi Shibahara ripped a double down the rightfield line. Zuleta crushed an Iriki offering into the leftfield bleachers and it was 3-1.

Next time up, the Hawks built on that when shortstop Munenori Kawasaki reached on an infield hit and leftfielder Pedro Valdez walked. Matsunaka unloaded a rocket into the rightfield stands for a 6-1 advantage.

In the bottom of the frame, Fighters first baseman Fernando Seguignol thundered a two out drive into the leftcenterfield seats to shrink the deficit to 6-2 Hawks. 

But the Hawks couldn't stop Ogasawara. In the fifth, shortstop Makoto Kaneko leadoff with a walk and moved up on a one out groundout. Ogasawara singled to right for another RBI and it was 6-3 Daiei.

Daiei, though, got it back when Matsunaka commenced the sixth by mortaring a pitch from reliever Tatsuhito Kato over the centerfield wall
to put it at 7-3 Hawks.

Daiei second baseman Tadahito Iguchi then inaugurated the seventh by taking Tomokazu Iba to the downs in left and the Hawks were in control at 8-3. 

In the eighth, Johjima chipped in a leadoff jack to left off of Iba to make it 9-3. 

Nippon Ham rallied in the ninth to make the score respectable and, once more, Ogasawara was in the middle of it. With one away, reliever Makoto Sato plunked Tsuboi. Centerfielder Tsuyoshi Shinjo grounded to third baseman Takashi Sasakawa, who booted it. Ogasawara socked one into the centerfield bleachers and it was 9-6. Sato then struck Seguignol out and leftfielder Angel Echevarria grounded out to turn out the lights. 

The triumph was the 1000th of Hawks skipper Sadaharu Oh's managerial career. His daughter, Rie, was in the stands taking this one in. 

Matsunaka now has six straight 20 homers seasons. 

In his last three games, Ogasawara is 9-13 with three homers and 11 RBIs. He is currently batting .366.

Naoyuki Shimizu started for Lotte and served up two longballs among the 11 hits he was touched for in his 6.2 innings, resulting in five runners crossing the plate to stick him with the responsibility for the defeat.

Lotte grabbed a 1-0 advantage in the second when centerfielder Benny Agbayani doubled to rightcenter and, two outs later, rightfielder Saburo Omura singled to center to send Agabayani in.

Lotte had the bases loaded with one out in the fourth, but a strikeout and a flyout wasted the opportunity. 

Orix then went on the offensive in the home portion, as Brown singled to right and Tani mashed an 87mph fastball that was up in the zone and landed it in the leftfield bleachers to make it 2-1. First baseman  Takeshi Yamasaki singled to right and went to second on a sac bunt. DH Ryutaro Tsuji singled to right. Manager Haruki Ihara called for the squeeze and catcher Takashi Miwa got it down for a 3-1 Blue 
Wave lead. 

Kawagoe struckout the side in the seventh and was rewarded with two more runs in the bottom of the inning. Second baseman Keiichi Hirano singled to left and went to second on a sac bunt. Shortstop Hidemitsu Saito singled to right, but Hirano was thrown out at the plate. Brown creamed one into the rightcenterfield stands and Orix had a 5-1 edge. 

In the eighth, Orix third baseman Kazuhiko Shiotani homered to right to make it 8-1. Kazuo Yamaguchi came on and retired three of the four men who stepped in against him in the ninth and Lotte's four game winning streak was a memory. 

Shimizu has seen 11 of his pitches disappear into the great wide open this season. He is on pace to exceed the 28 he gave up in 2002, when
he lead the league. 

Koji Onuma started for Seibu and was all over the place, giving up seven hits and six walks in six innings, but frustrated Kintetsu on two runs and improved his record to 4-3.

Beirne struckout the side in the second. Kintetsu then had two on thanks to a pair of walks to begin the third, but the Buffs order couldn't get out of the infield thereafter.

In the fourth, Seibu third baseman Jose Fernandez walked and leftfielder Kazuhiro Wada pummled a Beirne delivery into the centerfield seats for a 2-0 lead. 

Kintetsu eliminated the advantage, though, in the fourth, as DH Larry Barnes and shortstop Masahiro Abe singled to center with one out. One out later, centerfielder Naoyuki Omura, in his first game back from injury, singled to left to plate Barnes. Second baseman Eiji Mizuguchi singled to left and Abe sped across to knot it at two all. 

However, Lions second baseman Hiroyuki Takagi tripled off the rightfield wall with two outs in the fifth and centerfielder Shogo Akada legged out an infield hit while Takagi busted home to make it 3-2 Seibu. 

Kintetsu had a huge chance to turn the momentum their way in the seventh when Mizuguchi and leftfielder Fumitoshi Takano walked. Chikara Onodera was summoned from the bullpen. Third baseman Norihiro Nakamura grounded into a 6-4-3 double play. Rightfielder Koichi Isobe walked. That brought up first baseman Hirotoshi Kitagawa, but he flew out to center to ruin the uprising. 

The Lions notched another tally in the eighth, as Fernandez singled to center with two outs and Wada walked. Hiroshi Hirao, pinch hitting for first baseman Masahide Kaizuka, singled to left to exploit Fernandez to make it 4-2 Seibu. 

Kiyoshi Toyoda entered from the pen in the ninth attempting to finalize it. Kintetsu rallied, but came up just short. Takano singled to right with one out, as did Nakamura. Isobe struckout. Kitagawa singled to left and Takano crossed to get within 4-3. But reserve DH Katsumi Yamashita fouled out to first to put it in the books.