19 year old Nippon Ham rookie pitcher Tatsuo Kinoshita had a cup of coffee with the team last season, so this wasn't the inaugural start of his career, but in his debut for 2007, he went all the way for a six hit shutout in a 5-0 victory over Softbank at Fukuoka Dome for his first complete game lifetime. 

Rick Guttormson started for the Hawks and had a mediocre outing, as he was in for six innings of four run, ten hit ball in falling to 2-3. 

Nippon Ham obtained the only tally it would require in this one in the first when centerfielder Hichori Morimoto extended his hitting streak to 23 games with a single to right and went to second on a sacrifice. Rightfielder Atsunori Inaba singled to center and Morimoto raced home for a 1-0 lead. 

In the second, leftfielder Tomochika Tsuboi singled to left and third baseman Eiichi Koyano laced one up the rightcenter alley for a double. Morimoto flied out to right and Tsuboi tagged up and ran in to make it 2-0. 

Guttormson struckout the side in the third, but Kinoshita had no hit the Fighters over the first third of the match. 

The Hawks then pressed Kinoshita in the fourth, as leftfielder Hitoshi Tamura singled to left with one away and first baseman Nobuhiko Matsunaka grounded to first baseman Fernando Seguignol, who dropped it for an error. Shortstop Satoru Morimoto flew out to right. Tamura tagged up and tried to advance to third, but Inaba gunned Tamura down and the inning was over. 

The Fighters subsequently increased their edge in the sixth when Tsuboi singled to center with two outs and Koyano rammed a hanging slider into leftcenter for a double, Tsuboi jetting to the plate. Catcher Shinya Tsuruoka singled to center and Koyano set the controls for the heart of home to put it at 4-0. 

Softbank was denied again in the bottom segment, as centerfielder Noriyuki Omura singled to right and second baseman Yuichi Honda singled to center. Tamura also singled to center. Omura, who can fly, made the turn at third and tried to score, but Morimoto threw him out at the dish. Kinoshita retired the following two men on a groundout and a strikeout and eight of the next ten after that to make it a fait accompli. 

The last Nippon Ham run was realized in the eighth thanks to a homer to left by Seguignol on a breaking ball down in the zone from Koji Mise to grow it to 5-0, ending a chain of eight consecutive defeats to the Hawks and it was the first time this season that the Fukuoka favorites had been blanked.. 

When Kinoshita was called up last season, Michihiro Ogasawara, who is now with Yomiuri, didn't like the kid's attitude and called him "a clown." In any event, Kinoshita gave the game ball to his mom, Noriko, who is kinda of a hottie, who was in the stands with his dad Atsuhiro. He was clocked in the high 80's. 

For Softbank, rightfielder Adam Hyzdu was 0-3 with a walk and is at .293. DH Brian Buchanan was 1-3 and is at .261. 

For Nippon Ham, Seguignol was 1-4 with two strikeouts and is at .233. 

Orix starter Yoshihisa Hirano dominated the Seibu Lions on three hits and a run in 7.1 innings and got big run support from the middle of the herd's order for a 6-1 victory at Tokyo Dome Saturday. The Lions have lost six of their last seven games and fell deeper into third. 

Fumiya Nishiguchi was slated to start for Seibu, but he tweaked his back during pre-game practice and so Satoshi Yamazaki was handed the assignment and was stunned by a three run homer to finish with a line that read four innings, three runs, and two hits on 50 pitches. 

There was only one baserunner in the first three innings and that was on a walk. But in the fourth, Orix centerfielder Hiroaki Onishi walked and, two outs later, DH Tuffy Rhodes singled to right. First baseman Hirotoshi Kitagawa plastered a Yamazaki delivery into the rightfield seats for a 3-0 lead. 

They heightened that further in the sixth when Onishi's grounder off of Eiji Shotsu was mishandled by third baseman Hiroshi Hirao, who advanced on a sacrifice. Third baseman Greg LaRocca singled to center and Onishi toured the bases. Rhodes absolutely destroyed whatever it was Shotsu ran up there, as the ball pinged off of a sign in rightcenter more than 470 feet away to make it 6-0. 

Hirano had permitted only a single through six and had retired the first two hitters of the seventh, but rightfielder Takahiko Sato cleaned and jerked a Hirano offering into the leftfield stands and it was 6-1. 

When Hirano was tagged for a one out single in the eighth he was at 120 pitches, so Yasunari Takagi came on to get the next two men. 

Daisuke Kato saw the first two men of the ninth reach. However, a flyout, a popup and a strikeout brought the curtain down. 

Nishiguchi will skip this start in hopes that he can be ready the next time he is scheduled to take the hill. 

For Orix, LaRocca was 1-4 with two strikeouts and is at .350. Rhodes was 2-3 and is at .268. 

For Seibu, first baseman Alex Cabrera was 0-3 with a walk and is at .333. 

The Chiba Lotte Marines took another step toward catching the first place Hawks Saturday when they binged on Rakuten Golden Eagles pitching to snag a 12-4 rain shortened victory at Miyagi Prefectural Stadium. Hiroyuki Kobayashi went six innings of four run, seven hit ball for a complete game win to improve to 5-1. 

Koji Aoyama started for Rakuten and was marked up for four runs, three earned, on five hits in three innings in a no decision. 

Marines centerfielder Daisuke Hayakawa singled to center in the first and went to second on a groundout. First baseman Kazuya Fukuura singled to right. One out later, DH Julio Zuleta singled to right and Hayakawa jogged in for a 1-0 lead. 

In the second, Lotte catcher Tasuku Hashimoto singled to right and moved to second on a sacrifice. One out later, Aoyama nailed Hayakawa with a pitch. Second baseman Koichi Hori grounded to shortstop Naoto Watanabe, who bobbled it for a second and then stepped on second for what he thought would be a force, but Hayakawa beat Watanabe to the bag and everybody was safe on the fielder's choice to pack the sacks. Fukuura singled to center and Hashimoto and Hayakawa beat a hasty path home to make it 3-0. 

And they rang up another run in the third, as leftfielder Benny Agbayani doubled down the leftfield line with one out and Hashimoto walked. Eagles catcher Akihito Fujii interfered with a swing by third baseman Toshiaki Imae to load the bases. Shortstop Hisao Heiuchi flied out to left and Agbayani tagged up and crossed to put it at 4-0. 

But in the bottom portion, Rakuten second baseman Tatsuya Shiokawa beat out a ground ball toward first and Fujii singled to right. The runners were sacrificed along. Centerfielder Teppei Tsuchiya singled to right and Shiokawa and Fujii arrived home safely. Tsuchiya stole second. Rightfielder Koichi Isobe singled to left and Tsuchiya dashed in. DH Takeshi Yamasaki doubled to leftcenter and third baseman Rick Short grounded to second to get Isobe in to knot it at four all. Kenshi Kawaguchi struckout and they would produce only one more hit over the remainder. 

Hideki Asai succeeded Aoyama for the fourth and walked Fukuura. Rightfielder Saburo Omura grounded into a 5-4 force. Zuleta walked. Agbayani doubled to leftcenter and both runners wheeled on home to go back in front at 6-4 and knock Asai out. Shingo Matsuzaki took over and did away with two of the next three batters. 

In the fifth, though, they dented Matsuzaki, as backup shortstop Masato Watanabe singled to left and moved to second on a sacrifice. One out later, Omura one hopped the leftfield fence for an RBI triple. One out later, Shinji Taninaka entered from the pen and grazed Zuleta's helmet with a pitch and didn't get ejected, but the umpires did warn both benches after discussin gwhether they should toss Taninaka as Zuleta went to first. Agbayani singled to left and Omura crossed to send it to 8-4. 

The Marines put the Eagles even further into the rear view mirror in the seventh when Agabayani singled to left with two outs for his first four hit game in Japan ever and Hashimoto singled to right. Imae singled to left to drive Agbayani in. Reserve leftfielder Naotaka Takehara got an 86mph fastball and bludgeoned it into the leftfield seats for his first career top level dinger and a 12-4 lead. After the inning ended, the rain began to come down harder and the umpires called it. 

Since his family has come to Japan on the 11th, Agbayani has gone 10-24, a .417 clip. 

Taninaka was demoted to the minors so that lefthanded reliever Toyohiko Yoshida could be put on the roster. 

For Lotte, Zuleta was 1-3 with a walk and an HBP and is at .276. Agbayani was 4-5 and is at .273. 

For Rakuten, Short was 1-3 and is at .331. First baseman Kevin Witt was 0-3 with two strikeouts and is at .191.