For the first time since the implementation of the draft in 1965, the Chiba Lotte Marines started a rookie fresh out of high school in April and they handed him a 3-0 lead, but number one draft pick Yuta Omine was battered for a five spot in the second and departed in the fifth without a decision in a 7-6 Seibu victory. His line was four innings, five runs, all earned, on seven hits and 78 pitches. He was also clocked at 94mph. 

Alex Graman, wuite a bit older than Omine, started for the Lions and didn't do much better than the younsgter, as he was dunned for four runs on seven hits in four innings and 102 pitches in a no decision. Instead, Koji Mitsui claimed his second win even though he permitted a run on two hits in the eighth. 

Lotte was out front in the beginning, as third baseman Takeshi Aono singled to left with one out and rightfielder Saburo Omura and first baseman Julio Zuleta both walked to load the bases. Catcher Tomoya Satozaki flew out to right and Aono tagged up and scurried in for a 1-0 lead.

Omine was perfect in the bottom half, so the Marines laid down a deuce in the bottom portion when second baseman Koichi Hori singled to center and went to second on a sacrifice. Centerfielder Daisuke Hayakawa doubled to the wall in left and Hori cruised home. Aono lined out to center, but Hayakawa tagged up and advanced to third. Omura singled to center and Hayakawa loped in to make it 3-0.

However, Omine would then have problems throwing strikes with his breaking pitches in the home edition. First baseman Alex Cabrera walloped a 92mph fastball on the outer half of the plate into the  rightcenterfield bleachers. One out later, DH Jeff Liefer walked. Rightfielder Takahiko Sato was struck on the left shoulder by a 91mph heater. Catcher Toru Hosokawa singled to left to fill the bags. Third baseman Hiroshi Hirao lined a fastball down the first base line for a two run double. Second baseman Yoshihito Ishii carromed one against the centerfield fence for another two run double and a 5-3 Lions advantage. Two flyouts impeded further scoring. 

Omine only allowed a single each in the third and fourth, but in the fifth, singles to left by shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima and Cabrera caused manager Bobby Valentine to resort to the bullpen for Satoru Komiyama, who induced a double play and a flyout to freeze the action. 

Graman wriggled out of a men on first and third and two outs dilemma in the third with a strikeout and retired three of four in the fourth. In the fifth, though, Satozaki singled to center and DH Benny Agbayani walked. Rookie Tetsuya Iwasaki spelled Graman and pinch hitter Matt Watson singled to left to juice the bags. But Hori grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, Satozaki finding paydirt, and pinch hitter Hisao Heiuchi grounded to second to minimize the damage, the inning ending at 5-4. 

Seibu, though, ran their way to a run in the sixth, as Sato was hit in the back by Komiyama and he stole second on a busted hit and run. Sato then went to third on a sacrifice and Hirao flied out to left and Sato crossed for a 6-4 advantage. 

Shuichiro Osaka stepped in for Iwasaki for the seventh and promptly walked Satozaki, Zuleta and Agbayani to load the bases. Tomoki Hoshino was entrusted with the ball. Pinch hitter Toshiaki Imae grounded to short to get Satozaki in and slice it to 6-5. One out later, pinch hitter Tsuyoshi Nishioka walked to refill the bags. But Hayakawa grounded to second to paralyze the runners. 

Seibu got a pair of singles during their ups, but those were wrapped around a double play ball and so that produced nothing. 

Aono then leadoff the eighth by punching a center cut slider from Mitsui that was down in the zone into the leftfield stands and that knotted it at six. 

But Liefer got a fastball in the red zone and clubbed it over the rightfield wall to put his squad back up 7-6. Closer Chikara Onodera exiled the Marines 1-2-3 in the ninth and that was all she wrote. 

While Omine was displaying consistent 01-94mph velosity, he spun too many of them back out over the plate and got hurt. In spite of that, Ishii told the press afterward that he believes that Omine has more upside than Masahiro Tanaka. 

Onine himself said that while he found some things he needed to work on, he was out there mainly to enjoy himself and found the experience a big shot in the arm. 

For Seibu, Cabrera was 3-4 and is at .283. Liefer was 1-3 with a walk and is at .259. 

For Lotte, Zuleta was 0-3 with two walks and is at .258. Agbayani was 0-1 with four walks and is at .253. Watson was 1-1 and is at .267. 

Keisaburo Tanoue, a seldom used 35 year old veteran, helped the Hawks out tremendously Monday when he persisted through 5.2 innings of one run, five hit ball on 102 pitches in a 3-1 victory over Orix at Kobe Green Stadium.  Buffaloes starter Danny Serafini wasn't bad, 6.2 innings of three run (one earned) ball on nine hits and 90 pitches and picked a man off and seems as if he is slowly getting dialed in, but he was nonetheless the loser here to step back to 2-3. 

Tanoue dominated over the first four innings, permitting only two hits. Serafini had a man on in every inning but kept them under control. 

In the fifth, however, rightfielder Takeshi Tsuji singled to center and was forced out at second when catcher Katsuki Yamazaki didn't get his sacrifice bunt attempt down toward third base. instead tapping it right in front of fellow backstop Takeshi Hidaka, who fired to second to nail Tsuji. Yamazaki stole second. One out later, second baseman Yuichi Honda grounded toward first, but just outran the play for an infield knock. Leftfielder Shotaro Ide singled to left and Yamazaki reported for a 1-0 lead. First baseman Nobuhiko Matsunaka grounded out to shut the festivities down.

But with two gone in the bottom half, Tanoue threw a breaking ball that centerfielder Hiroaki Onishi crunched into the leftfield seats to even it at one apiece. 

The Hawks retook the lead in the sixth, though, as third baseman Hiroki Kokubo walked and was liquidated on a double play. Shortstop Satoru Morimoto singled to center. Tsuji hit one on the screws to third baseman Makoto Shiozaki, who couldn't glove it for an error. Yamazaki singled to left and that propelled Morimoto in. Centerfielder Naoyuki Omura singled to right and Tsuji dashed in to make it 3-1. The next ten Softbank hitters went down in order. 

Orix had two on and two out in their part of the sixth and Makoto Sato and two other relievers put the next ten Buffaloes batsmen away to cart off the W, their eighth straight. 

Hawks skipper Sadaharu Oh pulled Tanoue after he walked a man in the sixth on a close 3-2 slider. Once he had dispensed with handling the pitching change, Oh then went to the plate umpire and chewed him out, somehow avoiding being ejected. 

Tanoue was clocked consistently in the mid-80's. 

For Orix, Rhodes was 1-4 and is at .265.

For Softbank, DH Brian Buchanan was 2-4 and is at .287. 

After getting behind 8-2, the Rakuten Golden Eagles continued to claw instead of just rolling over and they made a game of it before losing 11-8 Monday at Miyagi Prefectural Stadium and being swept by Nippon Ham. Takehito Kanazawa, in his first start with his new club, went five innings of two run, four hit ball for the win.

Another former career reliever, Rui Makino, started for Rakuten and was removed after three innings of two run, four hit pitching. Hideki Asai assumed the mound duties and was pummled for six runs, five earned, on eight hits in 2.1 innings for his first defeat. 

Nippon Ham centerfielder Hichori Morimoto singled to right in the first and went to second on a sacrifice. Rightfielder Atsunori Inaba walked. One out later, Catcher Shinji Takahashi singled to left to boost Morimoto in with a 1-0 lead. 

But the Eagles overturned that in the second, as first baseman Jose Fernandez homered to left. DH Takeshi Yamasaki doubled to left and went to third on a groundout. Third baseman Rick Short flied out to left and Yamasaki tagged up and crossed to put Rakuten ahead 2-1. 

Inaba, though, plundered a Makino offering into the rightfield bleachers to equalize it at 2-2 in the third. In the fourth, Takahashi reached on an infield hit and sprinted home on a double to left from shortstop Makoto Kaneko and the Fighters were up 3-2. 

Asai whitewashed Nippon Ham on a walk and a hit in his first two innings, but in the sixth, Kaneko singled to center and leftfielder Tomochika Tsuboi singled to left. First baseman Yukio Tanaka singled to left and Kaneko set the controls for the heart of homeplate. Third basema Yang Chung-chou outran a ground ball toward third to load the bases. Morimoto singled to center for an RBI and, after Koki Watanabe came aboard to relieve for Rakuten, second baseman Kensuke Tanaka singled to left to drive in two more. Inaba grounded into a 4-6-3 double play and Morimoto raced in to break it open to 8-2. 

Takeshi Itoh was inserted in the bottom of the sixth for Nippon Ham and plunked Yamasaki with one out. Leftfielder Kenshi Kawaguchi singled to right. Short singled to center and Yamasaki motored home to make it 8-3. Masaru Takeda climbed the hill and shortstop Daisuke Kusano singled to right and it looks like Kawaguchi was thrown out at the plate. Catcher Motohiro Shima struckout to sabotage the uprising. 

Takeda returned for the seventh and rightfielder Koichi Isobe singled to center with one out. Following another out, Yamasaki singled to right. Kawaguchi homered to right on a hanging slider and it was 8-6 and a real ballgame again. 

That didn't shake the Fighters. In the eighth, Morimoto singled to right and Tanaka struckout, but a wild pitch enabled him to reach on it. Inaba lined to Kusano, who tried to double Morimoto off of second and threw it away. Morimoto blazed to the plate on the play and Nippon Ham had a more comfortable lead at 9-6. 

They added to that in the ninth when Kaneko legged out a ground ball toward second and went to second on a groundout. Yukio Tanaka singled to center. Backup catcher Shinya Tsuruoka singled to right and Kaneko headed home while Tanaka slid into third. Morimoto flew out to left and Tanaka tagged up and strode home to put it at 11-6. 

Michael Nakamura came on to close for the Fighters. With two outs, Yamasaki walked. Kawaguchi singled to center. Short singled to right and Yamasaki scored. Kusano grounded to Kensuke Tanaka at second, who misplayed it, and Kawaguchi scored on the play to ease the gap to 11-8. Scrubeenie catcher Akihito Fujii grounded out and it was finally over. 

Rakuten pitching surrendered 28 runs in this series. 

For Nippon Ham, DH Fernando Seguignol was 0-4 with a walk and a four strikeouts and is at .262. 

For Rakuten, Fernandez was 1-5 and is at .242.