The Nippon Ham Fighters went out to a 4-0 second inning lead Sunday against Softbank at Fukuoka Dome and nearly blew it, ultimately snaking a 5-4 verdict after leaving two Hawks on in the ninth. Satoru Kanemura started for the winners and came out after three innings of two run, four hit ball due to discomfort in his shoulder, so credit for the positive outcome went to reliever Masaru Takeda for his first shiroboshi of 2007. 

Keisaburo Tanoue started for Softbank and was in for only 1.1 innings of four run (three earned) ball on four hits to absorb the loss. 

Nippon Ham centerfielder Hichori Morimoto lined a shot off of Tanoue's right foot and into left for a single in the top of the first and was sacrificed to second. One out later, DH Fernando Seguignol walked. First baseman Tomoyuki Oda singled to center and it was 1-0. 

Fighters leftfielder Tomochika Tsuboi's grounder then hit the third base bag and bounded away from third baseman Hiroki Kokubo for an infield hit in the second and third baseman Eiichi Koyano put down a sacrifice bunt. But Tanoue's decided to go to second with it and pulled shortstop Mitsuru Honma off the bag for an error. The runners were sacrifced along and Morimoto banged a single into right to chase them in and snuck into second on the relay home. Second baseman Kensuke Tanaka walked. Shinsuke Ogura was summoned from the bullpen and Morimoto and Tanaka pulled off the double steal. Rightfielder Atsunori Inaba flew out to center and Morimoto tagged up and galloped in to make it 4-0. 

But in the bottom of the inning, Hawks rightfielder Adam Hyzdu doubled off the rightcenterfield fence and DH Hiroshi Shibahara nine ironed a forkball into the rightfield seats to close it within 4-2. 

Softbank then put two on with nobody out in the third and paralyzed them on a strikeout, a flyout and a groundout. 

Takeda supplanted Kanemuta in the fourth and allowed a hit over four innings.The Fighters lead was also enlarged in the fifth, as Oda walked with one out and, one out later, Tsuboi singeld to center. Koyano singled to left and plated Oda to put it at 5-2. 

In the eighth, though, Hidenori Tanoue singled to center in a pinch hit appearance for the Hawks and, two outs later, Takeda was yanked in favor of Hisashi Takeda with leftfielder Hitoshi Tamura up. Tamura clubbed an 87mph fastball into the leftfield stands and narrowed the gap to 5-4. First baseman Nobuhiko Matsunaka checked in representing the tying run, but he struckout. 

Closer Michael Nakamura succeeded Takeda for the ninth and Kokubo singled to left and Hyzdu singled to center. But Shibahara flied out to left, pinch hitter Brian Buchanan chopped a ground ball to second that became a forceout and Tanoue flied out to right to ice it. 

Morimoto now has a 24 game hitting string, tying hall of famer Hiroshi Oshita's team mark. Morimoto told the press afterward that since he grew up more interested in soccer than baseball he had never heard of Oshita. This was also his seventh three hit game of the year and he has batted .410 during the streak. 

This was also Hawks manager Sadaharu Oh's 67th birthday, so it was obviously a disappointing occasion for him. The Hawks haven't had an RBI hit with a runner in scoring position in their last 30 innings. 

For Nippon Ham, Seguignol was 0-3 with two walks and is at .228. 

For Softbank, Hyzdu was 3-4 and is at .323. Buchanan was 0-1 and is at .259. 

Orix Buffaloes starter Yuki Tanaka flirted with history Sunday, as he had a no hitter for 6.2 innings against Seibu at Tokyo Dome, but he got the hook in the eighth after surrendering a pair of hits and had to be content with a three hit 5-2 victory. Chris Gissel was also throwing well for seven innings for the Lions, but he tired in the eighth and finished with 7.1 innings of four run, six hit ball for his fourth defeat. 

Centerfielder Takumi Kuriyama walked to commence the match for Seibu and was thrown out attempting to steal second. Tanaka then set down the next 19 in a row before shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima singled to left with two outs in the seventh to break the no no up. 

Buffaloes centerfielder Hiroaki Onishi kicked off his team's part of the first with a belt into the rightfield seats for a 1-0 lead. Gissel battened down the hatches and allowed only one other other hit through four. 

In the fifth, though, Orix shortstop Keiji Obiki and catcher Takeshi Hidaka each singled to right and Onishi singled to center to clear a path home for Obiki to make it 2-0. Gissel stepped it up again and put the next nine away consecutively. 

The Lions finally presented a threat in the eighth, as DH Kazuhiro Wada singled to center and rightfielder Takahiko Sato singled to right. Manager Terry Collins got on the horn to reliever Kazuya Motoyanagi and pinch hitter Hiroyuki Takagi grounded to third, but in such a way as to permit the runners to move up. Pinch hitter Kosuke Noda grounded to third, too, and Wada crossed to put it at 2-1. Pinch hitter Taketoshi Goto, though, struckout for the third out to leave the tying run on. 

The herd retaliated in their turn when leftfielder Arihito Muramatsu singled to left with one out and third baseman Greg LaRocca walked. Gissel was exchanged for Tomoki Hoshino, who struckout DH Tuffy Rhodes, However, first baseman Hirotoshi Kitagawa homered to left and Orix was up 5-1. 

The Lions answered in the ninth with a walk to Kuriyama, who went to tsecond on a groundout and, one out later, an RBI single by first baseman Alex Cabrera that shrunk the disparity to 5-2, but Wada struckout and this conflict was history. 

This was the Buffaloes third win in a row while the Lions are oriented in the opposite direction. 

For Seibu, Cabrera was 1-4 and is at .331. 

For Orix, LaRocca was 0-3 with a walk and is at .343. Rhodes was 0-3 with a walk and two strikeouts and is at .263. 

Naoyuki Shimizu was the last of the 12 Opening Day starters not to have claimed at least one victory this season, but he fixed that Sunday when he went six innings of three run, nine hit ball in an 8-3 triumph by the Chiba Lotte Marines over the Rakuten Golden Eagles at Miyagi Prefectural Stadium. 

Kanehisa Arime started for Rakuten and didn't get the job done, as he was roughed up for four runs on five hits in 2.1 innings to regress to 1-3. 

Lotte nosed in front in the first when third baseman Toshiaki Imae lined one up the leftcenter alley for a one out double and first baseman Kazuya Fukuura singled to center to invite him home for a 1-0 lead. 

In the third, Arime walked second baseman Takeshi Aono and, one out later, Fukuura rammed a shot off of Arime's glove for an infield single. Centerfielder Saburo Omura doubled down the leftfield line and Aono skated in. DH Julio Zuleta walked to load the bases. Akira Matsumoto was called on to take on rightfielder Benny Agbayani, who singled to right to drive in both Fukuura and Omura and make it 4-0. 

Rakuten DH Takeshi Yamasaki homered to left in the fourth to put it at 4-1. It was his 19th of the year, putting him on pace for 60. 

Lotte then took it to Matsumoto a bit in the fifth. Omura walked with one out and stole second. Zuleta singled to left and leftfielder Kenshi Kawaguchi's throw home was up the line as Omura crossed. Agbayani doubled down the leftfield line. Leftfielder Naotaka Takehara flied out to right and Zuleta tagged up and scored for a 6-1 advantage. 

Rakuten snatched one of those back in the home edition when shortstop Naoto Watanabe singled to left with one away and centerfielder Teppei Tsuchiya singled to center. Rightfielder Koichi Isobe reached on an infield hit to pack the sacks. Yamasaki flied out to left and Watanabe tagged up and crossed to make it 6-2. Third baseman Rick Short grounded to second to stand up the runners. 

Eagles second baseman Daisuke Kusano doubled off the rightfield fence with two outs in the sixth and continued home on a double off of the leftfield wall by catcher Akihito Fujii to slice it to 6-3. Shimizu and three relievers would then retire nine of the next 11 to clinch it. 

Lotte catcher Tasuku Hashimoto doubled to rightcenter with one out in the eighth and Aono socked an 88mph fastball into the leftfield seats and that was your final, 8-3. 

For Rakuten, Short was 2-4 and is at .336. First baseman Kevin Witt was 0-4 with three strikeouts and is at .184. Witt is whiffing more than a third of the time and in a 500 official at bat season would fan around 185 times. Jose Fernandez walked in a inch hit appearance and is at .218. 

For Lotte, Agbayani was 2-5 and is at .278. Zuleta was 2-4 with a walk and two strikeouts and is at .282. 

Seibu Team owner Takashi Goto indicated Sunday that he will not take manager Tsutomu Itoh's reccomendation and sit out the entire draft. They are still waiting to see what kind of sanctions that interim commissioner Yasuchika Negoro will hand down, but it is thought they will include the Lions being compelled to sit out the first two rounds of the selection process as well as fines and temporarily disqualifying the club's scouts from being able to perform their jobs.