Takayuki Kishi was hardly outstanding Thursday, but it was a big improvement over his last start, as he went 6.1 innings of two run, eight hit ball and struckout eight and walked one to improve to 2-1 in a 6-2 victory over Nippon Ham at Seibu Dome. Satoru Kanemura went eight innings for the Fighters on six runs and 12 hits to become a three time loser. 

Nippon Ham two two on and one out in the first and mucked that up. The Lions then went up top in the home edition when centerfielder Yoshihito Ishii doubled to right and DH Hiroyuki Shibata reached on an infield hit, Ishii advancing to third on the play. Shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima flied out to right and Ishii tagged up and hustled in and Shibata also tagged up and moved up 90 feet. One out later, leftfielder Kazuhiro Wada singled to center to drive Shibata in for a 2-0 lead. 

But Fighters DH Tomoyuki Oda doubled to right in the second and went to third on a sacrifice. Third baseman Naoto Inada flied to center and Oda tagged up and crossed to make it 2-1. 

Seibu answered in their ups when catcher Toru Hosokawa doubled to right with one out and third baseman Takeya Nakamura singled to left for the RBI and it was 3-1. 

Nippon Ham filled the bags with two outs in the third. However, that was sabotaged by Oda's groundout and Kishi banished the next six men following Oda. 

Seibu got a triple and a double in the fourth, but didn't put anything on the biag board. Busted squeeze? 

Nippon Ham then put two on with nobody out in the sixth, but a groundout, a flyout and a strikeout disappeared it. 

In the seventh, though, Fighters shortstop Makoto Kaneko singled to center with one away and centerfielder Hichori Morimoto singled to right. Tomoki Hoshino was waved in from the pen and second baseman Kensuke Tanaka flied out to right. Kaneko tagged up and headed in to slice it to 3-2. Leftfielder Tomochika Tsuboi walked. First baseman Fernando Seguignol grounded to short and they would do nothing offensively from that point on. 

Nakajima doubled to left in the eighth and, one out later, Wada singled to right. Centerfielder Takumi Kuriyama lined out to second. Rightfielder Takahiko Sato walked to jam the basepaths. Hosokawa singled to right and showed Nakajima home. Nakamura singled to center and Wada and Sato rushed in to widen it to 6-2. Chikara Onodera dominated in the ninth and that was all she wrote. 

Kishi was clocked at 90mph. 

For Nippon Ham, Seguignol was 0-3 with a walk and is at .303. 

For Seibu, first baseman Jeff Liefer was 0-4 with two strikeouts and is at .271. 

The Rakuten Golden Eagles are back in third Thursday after they swept, yes, swept the Softbank Hawks with a 3-1 victory at Miyagi Prefectural Stadium. Rui Makino started for the winners but was in for only 3.2 innings because of a liner off of his right calf. Hideki Asai was consequently credited with the shiroboshi when he took over and spun 4.1 shutout innings on three hits and struckout seven in his first appearance of the year. 

Akio Mizuta made his first top level start for Softbank in four years and was tagged for three runs, one earned, on seven hits and two walks in 3.1 innings in defeat. 

Rakuten ripped off a three spot in the first and would never relinquish it, as shortstop Daisuke Kusano torqued a hanging curve into the rightcenter alley for a double with one out and rightfielder Koichi Isobe singled toright. Third baseman Jose Fernandez walked to load the bases. Leftfielder Rick Short grounded to shortstop Mitsuru Honma, who flipped it wildly to second, pulling second baseman Yuichi Honda off the bag and everybody was safe while Kusano flashed by the dish. One out later, first baseman Kevin Witt singled to right and brought Isobe and Fernandez in for a 3-0 lead. 

Makino no hit the Hawks over the first four innings and retired the first two men of the fourth. But first baseman Nobuhiko Matsunaka singled to right. Third baseman Hiroki Kokubo sizzled one off of Makino's calf and that was all for the veteran hurler, Asai entering from the pen and putting seven of the next eight away with no problem. 

The Eagles had men on second and third with one out in the fourth, but blew it when the next two men each slapped comebackers to the mound. 

They would juice the bags with two outs in the fifth and Witt grounded out to deep six it. They would be rendered hitless for the duration. 

Asai had his closest approximation of a jam in the seventh when Kokubo singled to right and, following two strikeouts, Rightfielder Hiroshi Shibahara singled to center. Pinch hitter Hidenori Tanoue lined out to short and Asai was perfect n the eighth before closer Kazuo Fukumori came on for the ninth. 

Matsunaka lead the inning off by pinging a shot off the rightcenterfield fence. Kokubo and centerfielder Naoyuki Omura both struckout, but DH Brian Buchanan singled to left. Inamine pinch ran for Buchanan and stole second to put the tying run in scoring position. Shibahara hit a hot shot to second baseman Yosuke Takasu, who couldn't handle it for an error, and Matsunaka crossed. Tanoue, though, grounded to third to make it a memory. 

The Hawks are now under .500 at 10-11. It was also the first time ever that Rakuten had swept them and it was only the third sweep in Eagles annals. 

For Rakuten, Fernandez was 1-2 with two walks and is at .250. Short was 0-4 and is at .265. Witt was 1-2 with two walks and is at .180. 

Chiba Lotte Marines first baseman Julio Zuleta homered twice and drove in three runs to take his squad to a 5-1 victory over Orix Thursday at Chiba Marine Stadium on Ladies Night. Lotte starter Hiroyuki Kobayashi is now 3-0 after seven innings of one run, seven hit ball on just 92 pitches. 

Hidetaka Kawagoe started for the Buffaloes and was bullied for four runs on eight hits in 4.1 innings to level his record at 2-2. 

Lotte had two on and one out in the first, but stood them up on a strikeout and a groundout. But in the second, DH Matt Watson dropped a single to center, but it took a bad hope and Watson was able to slide into second before they tracked it down and got it back to the infield. A groundout moved Watson to third, from where he scored on a double into the leftfield corner by leftfielder Benny Agbayani for a 1-0 lead. 

Orix had a man on in both the first and second and they were eliminated on double plays. Kobayashi was perfect in the third and then given a bigger advantage in the bottom half because Zuleta mashed an 0-1 fastball down in the zone into the rightfield seats to make it 2-0. 

The Buffaloes then ran themselves out of an inning in the fourth. Centerfielder Hiroaki Onishi singled to right and leftfielder Arihito Muramatsu walked. Kobayahsi threw a pitch in the dirt and it bounced a couple of feet from catcher Tomoya Satozaki. The runners took off and Satozaki gunned it to second baseman Takeshi Aono, who trapped Muramatsu in a rundown and the speedster was eventually tagged out while Onishi advanced to third. Third baseman Greg LaRocca struckout and DH Tuffy Rhodes grounded out to conclude the frame. 

Lotte enlarged its lead in the fifth, as shortstop Tsuyoshi Nishioka singled to right and went to second on a sacrifice. Aono walked. Zuleta doubled to leftcenter and Nishioka glided home. Satozaki flew out to right and Aono tagged up and crossed to put Lotte in control at 4-0. 

Orix got of fthe floor in the sixth when shortstop Keiji Obiki singled to center and tagged up and moved to second on a one out flyout. LaRocca singled to center to spring Obiki in and pare it to 4-1. 

But Zuleta got a 2-0 fastball up and out over the plate in the seventh and lambasted it into the leftfield stands to make it 5-1. That was their last hit of the night. 

The herd had two more on with two out in the eighth, but a flyout and Lotte reliever Yasuhiko Yabuta's flawless ninth locked it up for the Marines. 

For Orix, LaRocca was 1-4 and is at .380. Rhodes was 1-4 and is at .262. 

For Lotte, Zuleta, who is playing with a broken pinky finger from being hit there by a pitch on the 15th, was 3-4 and is at .286. Watson was 1-3 and is at .263. Agbayanmi was 2-4 and is at .286. He said that he was hitting for the ladies Thursday. 

Pitcher Satoru Kanemura has qualified for free agency. You can expect him to look for a job in MLB, but he isn't a big league quality hurler. 

Rakuten Hisashi Iwakuma will make a rehab appearance on the 21st down in the Eastern League. He will be limited to 80 pitches. 

Seibu Second baseman Yasuyuki Kataoka, who was involved in a collision Wednesday with body building rightfielder Takahiko Sato and had to be taken out of the game as a result, was diagnosed with just a bruised right knee. He is day to day.