Nippon Ham shortstop Makoto Kaneko produced three RBIs in the middle innings and enabled the Fighters to put a 7-2 victory in the bank against Orix Wednesday at Sapporo Dome. Tomoya Yagi started for the home side and was lit up for 11 hits, but the herd did a poor job with runners in scoring position and so the lefthander restrained them to two runs in 7.2 innings for his second victory of the year and his fourth straight against the Osaka nine. 

Danny Serafini started for the Buffaloes and got clocked for six runs and six hits in 3.2 innings for his first loss of the campaign. 

Nippon Ham was out front early when second baseman Kensuke Tanaka walked with one out in the second and Serafini plunked leftfielder Tomochika Tsuboi. They pulled off the double steal. DH Fernando Seguignol singled to center and Tanaka hustled home for a 1-0 lead. Rightfielder Atsunori Inaba lined out to stall the uprising. 

Orix amassed three hits in the third, but they were sandwiched around a double play ball and a groundout. Yagi then put the boot in and held the Buffs to a knock over the ensuing three frames. 

In the meantime, the Fighters enhanced their lead when Tsuboi reached on an infield hit in the fourth and went to second on a sacrifice. Inaba beat out a ground ball for a hit. Catcher Shinji Takahashi singled to right and that sprung Tsuboi in. First baseman Yukio Tanaka walked to load the bases. A wild pitch resulted in one run and, one out later, Kaneko singled to left to chase the other two runners in to stretch it to 6-0 and knock Serafini out of the game. 

In the sixth, Nippon Ham third baseman Andy Green doubled to left with one out and Kaneko singled to center to slingshot Green in to make it 7-0. 

Orix finally got of the floor in the seventh, as first baseman Kitagawa legged out a ground ball and, one out later, third baseman Makoto Shiozaki singled to left. Following another out, catcher Tsuji doubled to left and both runners put it in fourth for home to put it at 7-2. 

They had two more on in the eighth with two outs and Takehiko Oshimoto induced a strikeout from rightfielder Shinji Shimoyama  to rescue Yagi and Hisashi Takeda retired three of four men he saw in the ninth to wrap it up. 

For Orix, DH Greg LaRocca was 1-4 and is at .393. Leftfielder Tuffy Rhodes was 0-3 and is at .255.

For Nippon Ham, Seguignol was 1-1 and is at .281. Green was 1-3 with a walk and is at .188. 

The Softbank Hawks and the Chiba Lotte Marines jousted to a five all tie over the first five innings, but Lotte posted four unanswered tallies from that point forward and took a 9-5 verdict from the birds of prey at bandbox Kita Kyushu Stadium Wednesday. Marines starter Hiroyuki Kobayashi had a rough night, five runs on six hits in seven innings, but he is now 2-0 for 2007. 

Toshiya Sugiuchi, who, like Kobayashi, had been brilliant in his first two starts, was abused heavily in this contest for four runs on eight hits in four innings, but it would be reliever Michinao Yamamura who was stained with the loss when he permitted two runs to cross against him. 

The Hawks had two on and two out in the first, but third baseman Hiroki Kokubo struckout to stymie the revolt. 

Lotte then surged out to a lead in the second, as leftfielder Takeshi Aono and third baseman Toshiaki Imae both singled to left and, one out later, rightfielder Saburo Omura walked to load the bases. Centerfielder Akira Otsuka flied out to right and Aono tagged up and scored for a 1-0 advantage. Shortstop Tsuyoshi Nishioka, who would finish with four hits, grounded out to bog the offense down. 

But Kobayashi threw a fastball that struck rightfielder Hiroshi Shibahara in the ass and DH Buchanan got a fastball middle-in and up and tomahawked it just over the leftcenterfield wall for a 2-1 edge. 

However, Lotte catcher Tomoya Satozaki took a Sugiuchi fastball that was also up and socked it into the leftfield seats to commence the third. Two outs later, Aono rammed a changeup off the glove of Kokubo for an infield hit. Imae got a 1-2 hanging slider and lifted it into the leftfield bleachers and it was 4-2. 

Kobayashi, though, walked leftfielder Hitoshi Tamura with one out in the home version and, following another out, Kokubo got a hanging slider that was basically teed up for him and he hammered it over the leftcenterfield fence to equalize it at four all. 

But Sugiuchi walked Otsuka with one out in the fourth and was thrown out trying to steal second by catcher Katsuki Yamazaki. That was actually big at the time because Nishioka singled to right and Satozaki singled to left. Leftfielder Benny Agbayani walked to jam the basepaths. Zuleta struckout on a 3-2 changeup and for all that Lotte got nothing. 

Buchanan then got a ball up in the zone in the bottom stanza and tattooed it over the centerfield wall to give the Hawks a 5-4 lead. 

Yamamura succeeded Sugiuchi for the fifth and, with two gone, Lotte DH Matt Watson scalded the first pitch he saw into the rightfield seats and it was even again at 5-5. 

The Marines pushed across another in the sixth when Nishioka doubled to the wall in right with one out. Yoshiaki Fujioka, who has not had a good first month, trotted in from the pen and Nishioka advanced on a groundout. Agbayani singled to right for the RBI to make it 6-5.

A single and an error put two on and nobody out for Softbank in the last of the frame, but that was foiled on a groundout and two popups. 

Both sides put two on in the seventh and abandoned them to the elements. 

In the eighth, though, Agbayani beat out a ground ball toward short with one out against Akihiro Yanase and was pinch run for by Daisuke Hayakawa, who then plunked Zuleta on the left wrist. Aono singled to center and centerfielder Naoyuki Omura attempted to nail Hayakawa at the plate, but Hayakawa buried his shoulder into backup catcher Naoki Matoba and knocked him three feet backward and was safe to hike it to 7-5. One out later, C.J. Nitkowski replaced Yanase and walked Watson to pack the sacks. Omura grounded to short to leave 'em loitering. 

However, Nitkowski walked Otsuka to kick off the ninth and went to second on a passed ball when Nitkowski crossed Matoba up. Otsuka then stole third. Nishioka singled to left to send Otsuka in. Nishioka then stole both second and third. One out later, Hayakawa flew out to center and Nishioka tagged up and hurried in to put it at 9-5. Zuleta walked and Aono was hit by a pitch to reload the bases. Morifuku came on and got Watson, but the Hawks only got a single in the bottom portion before closer Masahide Kobayashi put it to rest. 

For Lotte, Zuleta was 0-3 with three strikeouts, two walks and an HBP and is at .260. There were apparently some words exchanged between Buchanan and Zuleta after the HBP, Zuleta complaining that Buchanan disrespected him even though the former Padre had been in Japan just a couple of months. Watson was 2-5 with two strikeouts and a walk and is at .300. Agbayani was 2-4 with a walk and is at .244. 

For Softbank, Buchanan was 3-4 and is at .370. 

Seibu's four, five and seven hole hitters hooked up for a total of six RBIs Wednesday at Miyagi Prefectural Stadium to sink the Rakuten Golden Eagles 9-2. Alex Graman started for the Lions and put the opposition back into last with 7.2 innings of two run (one earned) ball in five hits while striking out four to improve his record to 1-2. The Tokorozawa contingent has won each of its last six. 

Rui Makino started for Rakuten and got rocked for six runs, three of them earned, on nine hits in four innings for his second defeat. 

The Eagles grabbed a shortlived lead in the bottom of the first, as centerfielder Teppei Tsuchiya walked and went to second on a sac bunt. Rightfielder Koichi Isobe singled to center and Tsuchiya set the controls for the heart of homeplate to make it 1-0. 

But Lions rightfielder Takahiko Sato pasted a Makino delivery into the leftfield seats to tie it at 1-1. 

They would then lurch ahead in the third when Eagles third baseman Jose Fernandez kicked centerfielder Kazuki Fukuchi's one out grounder. Fukuchi stole second. Second baseman Yasuyuki Kataoka walked. Shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima singled to right. First baseman Alex Cabrera singled to left to welcome Fukuchi and Kataoka  home. Leftfielder Kazuhiro Wada singled to left to pick up Nakajima for a 4-1 advantage. DH Jeff Liefer reached on an infield hit to reload the bases. But Sato struckout to stand the runners up. 

Another Seibu score was made possible by Eagles shortstop Tatsuya Shiokawa, who mishandled catcher Toru Hosokawa's grounder in the fourth. Hosokawa advanced on a groundout. Fukuchi singled to right. Fukuchi singled to right and stole second. One out later, Nakajima singled to left to case them in and put it at 6-1. 

Rakuten then had two on and nobody out in their ups in the inning, only to have Graman retire the next 14 in a row. 

Seibu had the bags jacked again in the eighth with nobody out and passed that chance by on two strikeouts and a popup. 

In the bottom half, Tsuchiya singled to left with two outs and third baseman Takeya Nakamura's error on second baseman Yosuke Takasu's grounder kept it alive. Isobe singled to right and rookie Iwasaki was brought in from the pen to banish Fernandez on a ground ball. 

The Lions added three more in the ninth against Kanehisa Arime when Cabrera walked with one out, Wada got aboard on an infield hit and, one out later, Sato went gapping to rightcenter for a two run triple. Arime hit Hosokawa with a pitch. Nakamura atoned for his error with a single to left to raise it to 9-1. 

Koji Mitsui was perfect in the bottom of the inning and that was all she wrote for the Eagles third consecutive loss. 

For Rakuten, Fernandez was 1-3 with a walk and is at .237. First baseman Rick Short was 0-4 and is at .280. 

For Seibu, Cabrera was 3-4 with a walk and is at .273. Liefer was 2-4 and is at .288.