The Rakuten four and five hitters, third baseman Jose Fernandez and DH Takeshi Yamasaki, combined to drive in five runs Tuesday at Miyagi Prefectural Stadium and Eagles starter Kanehisa Arime was maybe more lucky than adequate (two runs, six hits, 5.2 innings despite a lot of hittable pitches) for a 7-2 victory over Nippon Ham in the first Pacific League weekday day game in nine years. Arime is now 1-1. 

Tomoya Yagi started for the Fighters and wasn't up to par himself, as he was bullied for three runs on six hits in 5.1 innings and walked three for his first loss that brought his record to 1-1. 

Nippon Ham managed just two hits over the first three innings. The Eagles then jumped on Yagi in the third, as shortstop Tatsuya Shiokawa doubled to left with one out and centerfielder Teppei Tsuchiya wallked. One out later, rightfielder Koichi Isobe walked to load the bases. Fernandez singled to center and that hailed two men home for a 2-0 lead. Yamasaki grounded to short to impede further scoring. 

Fighters DH Fernando Seguignol responded in the fourth by conking an Arime delivery into the leftfield seats to make it 2-1. 

The two run margin would be restored in the bottom of the fifth when Shiokawa singled to right and Tsuchiya singled to center. The runners advanced on a sac bunt. Isobe flied out to left and Shiokawa tagged up and found paydirt to grow it to 3-1. 

But Nippon Ham centerfielder Hichori Morimoto singled to right in the sixth and stole second. Two outs later, Seguignol singled to left and Morimoto crossed to put it at 3-2. Rightfielder Atsunori Inaba beat out a ground ball toward third. Akira Matsumoto supplanted Arime and walked leftfielder Tomochika Tsuboi to juice the bags. However, third baseman Andy Green popped up and the rally was stymied. 

Rakuten would then pretty much put it away in the seventh, as second baseman Yosuke Takasu singled to right with two outs and Isobe doubled to left. Fernandez walked to jam the basepaths. Yamasaki tripled up the rightcenter gap and cleaned up the community. Leftfielder Akihisa Makita singled to center and it was now 7-2. 

Nippon Ham loaded the bases again in the eighth with two outs, but first baseman Yukio Tanaka popped to first to tranquilize that revolt and a one out double play ball in the ninth spelled finis for this faceoff. 

Fighters skipper Trey Hillman remarked that Arime's pitches didn't have much movement, but his squad just didn't capitalize on it. 

Because of the cold weather in northeast Japan (expected night time temperatures were at or near freezing), they scheduled this and Wednesday's game in the afternoon. Attendance was 10,900 even with most people at work. 

For Rakuten, Fernandez was 1-2 with two walks and is at .286. First baseman Kevin Witt was 0-4 and is at .167.

For Nippon Ham, Seguignol was 2-4 and is at .278. Green was 0-3 with a walk and is at .233. 

Seibu Lions starter Hideaki Wakui was all over the place Tuesday, as he used up 148 pitches to survive 7.2 innings, including a very wooly first, to register a 3-2 victory against Softbank at Seibu Dome. Nagisa Arakaki was solid, spinning 7.1 innings of three run, seven hit ball on 99 pitches, but he was saddled with a defeat that evened his record to 1-1.

Hawks shortstop Munenori Kawasaki walked with one out in the first and leftfielder Hitoshi Tamura lashed a slider up the leftcenter alley for a double. Kawasaki made the turn at third and hustled to home, but the ball was there in time on the relay and the speedster was out. First baseman Nobuhiko Matsunaka and third baseman Hiroki Kokubo both walked to load the bases. However, rightfielder Hiroshi Shibahara grounded to second to block the rally. 

In the bottom portion, Seibu second baseman Yasuyuki Kataoka beat out a chopper with one away and stole second. One out later, first baseman Jeff Liefer singled to right and Kataoka sprinted home for a 1-0 lead. Leftfielder Kazuhiro Wada singled to center. DH Takumi Kuriyama walked to pack the sacks. But Arakaki then retired 12 of the next 13 and otherwise dominated through five after the first inning trouble. 

Wakui, though, would have a man on second with one out in the third and two on with two gone in the fifth and he worked through those patches withbout being dinged for anything on the scoreboard.

Wakui was given more room for error in the sixth, as shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima singled to center and, one out later, Wada walked. Kuriyama singled to left and Nakajima navigated his way home while Wada hustled to third. Third baseman Yoshihito Ishii flew out to center and Wada tagged up and scurried in to make it 3-0. 

Softbank finally got to Wakui in the eighth when Kawasaki singled to left and went to second on a one out groundout. Kokubo got a 3-2 slider and socked it into the leftfield seats to contract the disparity to 3-2. Koji Mitsui was entrusted with the ball and Ishii threw wildly on pinch hitter Takeshi Tsuji's ground ball to put the tying run on. But DH Brian Buchanan, who has been hitting up a storm lately, popped to short and closer Chikara Onodera put a 1-2-3 ninth together to lock it up. 

Wakui was clocked at 92mph. He also became just the 12th man in NPB history to strikeout four men in an inning in the fifth and the seventh in the Pacific League. 

For Softbank, Buchanan was 0-4 with two strikeouts and is at .323. 

For Seibu, Liefer was 2-4 with two strikeouts and is at .393. 

Chiba Lotte Marines starter Hiroyuki Kobayashi followed up his nine inning effort his last time out with seven shutout innings Tuesday against Orix at Osaka Dome and was lent some support from third baseman Toshiaki Imae to garner a 3-1 victory. Kobayashi now has 16 consecutive scoreless innings under his belt. 

Tom Davey started for the herd and was hit around a bit, ten hits and three runs in six innings to even his record at 1-1. 

Lotte rightfielder Shoitsu Omatsu singled to left with one out in the second and went to second on a groundout. Second baseman Shunichi Nemoto singled to left. Imae singled to left and Omatsu did the cadillac walk in for a 1-0 lead. Centerfielder Daisuke Hayakawa walked. Shortstop Tsuyoshi Nishioka grounded a ball back through the middle. Second baseman Masahiro Abe flagged it down, but he had to eat it as the speedy Nishioka crossed the bag at first while Nemoto flashed across the plate to make it 2-0. DH Matt Watson grounded out to stand the runners up. 

Kobayasnhi was perfect through three and only allowed a hit through five. His teammates also got him another run in the fourth, as catcher Tomoya Satozaki doubled to leftcenter and, one out later, Imae tripled to the wall in center to lift it to 3-0. Hayakawa fouled off a squeeze bunt attempt and then hit a ground ball toward short for an infield hit. But Imae was indecisive in getting off the bag at third and was tagged out in a rundown. The Marines would collect only two more singles from there on in. 

Kobayashi had men on second and third in the sixth with one out, but overcame it by eliciting a comebacker and a flyout to keep it scoreless. He was flawless in the seventh and departed the scene. 

Yasuhiko Yabuta assumed the mound duties for Lotte in the eighth and leftfielder Arihito Muramatsu singled to center and shortstop Keiji Obiki singled toward the line in right, Muramatsu galloping into third. One out later, centerfielder Keiichi Hirano grounded into a forceout at second to plate Muramatsu to put it at 3-1. Abe singled to right and Hirano turned and burned for third. Third baseman Greg LaRocca, though, popped up to second and closer Masahide Kobayashi put down three of the four men he saw in the ninth for his second save to put it to bed. 

Kobayashi was clocked at 91mph. 

For Orix, LaRocca was 1-4 and is at .448. DH Tuffy Rhodes was 0-3 and is at .280. 

For Lotte, Watson was 0-4 and is at .000. Leftfielder Benny Agbayani was 2-4 and is at .304. First baseman Julio Zuleta was 0-4 and is at .231. 

Softbank Second baseman Yuichi Honda sat Tuesday's game out with a fever. In addition, coach Tatsuya Ide has the flu and is resting back at the hotel.