Hisashi Takayama powdered a two run walkoff homer in the bottom of the ninth Saturday to dissolve a 4-4 standoff and seize for Seibu a 6-4 victory over Rakuten at Seibu Dome. Takayuki Kishi started for the Lions and went 7.2 innings of a bit erratic two run, four hit ball while walking five and striking out four in a no decision. Instead, it was closer Chikara Onodera who leveled his record at 2-2 even though he was slapped around for two runs in the top of that ninth. 

Hideki Asai started for the Eagles and went 5.2 innings of three run, eight hit ball for nought. 

Seibu centerfielder Kazuki Fukuchi singled to center to commence their first and moved to second on a sacrifice. Shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima singled to center to chase Fukuchi in. First baseman Alex Cabrera walked. Leftfielder Kazuhiro Wada singled to center and that brought Nakajima around for a 2-0 lead. A strikeout and a popup interrrupted the festivities. 

In the third, Cabrera singled to center with two outs and Wada walked. DH Akira Etoh singled to center and Cabrera rumbled for home, but was met at the plate with catcher Motohiro Shima holding the ball and Shima applied the tag for the third out. 

Rakuten then got on the big board in the fourth when DH Takeshi   Yamasaki throttled a fastball into the leftfield seats to make it 2-1. 

But Lions rightfielder Takahiko Sato tripled to right in the bottom stanza and catcher Toru Hosokawa was hit by a pitch. Third baseman Yoshihito Ishii flied out to center and Sato tagged up and strode home to put it at 3-1. 

Kishi walked and hit a man each with two gone in the fifth and wriggled out of it by tempting centerfielder Teppei Tsuchiya into a popup. He would go on to put eight in a row away after that. 

He was also presented with more breathing space in the seventh, as second baseman Yasuyuki Kataoka singled to left and, two outs later, Wada singled to left. Tatsuyuki Uemoto pinch hit for Etoh and singled to right for his first pro RBI to enlarge the advantage to 4-1. 

However, in the eighth, it would tighten up a tad when Tsuchiya mortared a two out shot into the rightfield stands to set things at 4-2. Leftfielder Rick Short doubled to left. Yamasaki was intentionally walked and lefthanded specialist Tomoki Hoshino was waved in to deal with rightfielder Koichi Isobe. Eagles boss Katsuya Nomura pinch hit for Isobe with Toshiya Nakajima, who struckout. 

Onodera, who, as you have no doubt realized by now, is something of a thrill ride for a closer, toed the rubber for the ninth and walked first baseman Jose Fernandez. One out later, Onodera left a cookie in third baseman Daisuke Kusano's wheelhouse and Kusano crunched it into the rightfield bleachers to knot it at four apiece. Following another out, shortstop Naoto Watanabe's grounder was muffed by backup third baseman Takuya Hara, but Tsuchiya flew out to left and so it remained deadlocked. 

But the knot would soon be undone, as Rakuten reliever Hisashi Ogura was victimized by a one out single to left from Wada. Koki Watanabe mosied in to face Uemoto and Seibu main man Tsutomu Itoh sent Takayama up to pinch hit. It was a quick return, because Takayama picked on a first pitch screwball that was on the outer half of the plate and scorched it into the leftcenterfield seats to decide it for the Lions. Ogura was saddled with the agony of defeat. 

Takayama has homered in his last two pinch hit appearances, the first time a Lion has done that since August, 1972, when Aaron Pointer did it. 

Yamasaki has tied Fernandez' team record for most homers in a season with 28.

For Seibu, Cabrera was 2-4 with a walk and is at .332. 

For Rakuten, Short was 1-4 and is at .322. Fernandez was 0-1 with three walks and is at .221. 

Chiba Lotte Marines closer Masahide Kobayashi blew a two run lead in the ninth and so their confrontation with the Softbank Hawks would conclude as a 12 inning 6-6 standoff that knocked the Marines out of first place in the Pacific League standings. That wasted a solid effort by Lotte starter Hiroyuki Kobayashi, who went six innings of two run (one earned) ball on seven hits while striking out six and walking none. 

Rick Guttormson benefited by the opposition's inability to seal the deal, as he had been lit up for five runs on nine hits in 6.2 innings and evaded incurring a loss. 

The Hawks went out to a shortlived lead in the first when shortstop Munenori Kawasaki socked a changeup into the rightfield seats. 

But the Marines then invaded Softbank's homeland in the second, as rightfielder Saburo Omura legged out a dribbler down the third base line and catcher Tomoya Satozaki flared a single to right. Leftfielder Benny Agbayani walked to load the bases. First baseman Takeshi Aono grounded to short and the only play was at first, Omura scoring. Second baseman Koichi Hori singled to center to slingshot Satozaki and Agbayani in. Shortstop Masato Watanabe singled to center and Hori turned and burned for third. Manager Bobby Valentine called for the squeeze bunt and third baseman Masahiko Tanaka got it down to go up 4-1. 

That was expanded to 5-1 in the fourth when Aono doubled to left and Hori singled to right. Watanabe singled to left and Aono scuttled across. Tanaka attempted to sacrifice, but Guttormson got to it quickly and fired to third for the force. Centerfielder Daisuke Hayakawa blooped one into right, but rightfielder Hiroshi Shibahara gloved it and gunned it to second for a 9-6 force. DH Naotaka Takehara flew out to right to shut the rally down. 

After the first inning, Hiroyuki Kobayashi allowed just one other hit through five. But in the sixth, Softbank centerfielder Naoyuki Omura tapped a slow ground ball up the middle and beat the throw to first for an infield hit. One out later, Omura stole second and went to third on the ensuing wild throw from Satozaki. Kawasaki singled to right and it was 4-2. That brought up DH Nobuhiko Matsunaka as the tying run, but he flew out to center. 

Lotte filled the bases with two outs in the seventh and that went nowhere when Aono struckout. 

The Hawks had their first two men of the bottom half get aboard on singles, but a popup, a strikeout and a groundout deep sixed that. 

In the eighth, though, Softbank second baseman Yuichi Honda tripled off the rightfield fence against Soichi Fujita and Kawasaki drove him in with a single to left. Matsunaka crashed a shot off the leftcenterfield fence for a double and Kawasaki wheeled home to put it at 5-4. Two strikeouts and a flyout bolted Matsunaka to the bag. 

But Hayakawa singled to right in the ninth and went to second on a sacrifice. Omura singled to left. Satozaki was hit by a pitch to swell the bags. Matt Watson pinch hit for backup leftfielder Takenori Daita and grounded to short, Omura crossing, to push it to 6-4. Aono popped up and they would produce only one more hit from there on in. 

Masahide Kobayashi sought to make it a fait accompli in the last of the inning and pinch hitter Brian Buchanan singled to left and was pinch run for by Kenji Akashi. First baseman Nobuhiro Matsuda doubled to leftcenter and Akashi motored all the way around from first. Matsuda advanced to third on a groundout and Honda singled to right to tie it up at six all. Kawasaki singled to right and Honda went to third on the play. Matsunaka was sawed off and flew out to shallow right. Third baseman Hiroki Kokubo grounded to third and into bonus time we go. 

However, the only scoring chance by either side was in the 11th when Koji Takagi plunked Omura and Omura slid on over to second on a sac bunt. One out later, Matsunaka walked and was pinch run for by Mitsuru Honma. But Satoru Komiyama came on and popped Kokubo up and nothing happened in the 12th to end it even. 

For Lotte, Agbayani was 0-2 with two walks and is at .307. Watson was 0-2 and is at .235. 

For Softbank, Buchanan was 1-1 and is at .264. C.J. Nitkowski pitched to one man and surrendered a hit and a run to inflate his ERA to 2.08. Jason Stanridge went 1.1 perfect innings and is at 0.00. 

Nippon Ham first baseman Mitch Jones first hit in Japan would be big here, as it was an RBI double that ultimately would win it for the Fighters 4-3 against Orix at Osaka Dome. Tomoya Yagi, who had been sent down because of some shoulder stiffness, started for Nippon Ham and went 3.2 innings of two run, five hit ball and then was demoted to the bushes again after a no decision. So Brian Sweeney was accorded the victory upon fashioning 2.1 scoreless innings on two hits while striking out three, his first shiroboshi since April 18th. 

Kondo, the kid who was ejected with two outs in the ninth inning of a perfect game because he beaned a man, started for the herd and was bullied for four runs on six hits in three innings in defeat. 

Kondo plunked DH Fernando Seguignol in the second and catcher Shinji Takahashi doubled to right. Two outs later, third baseman Eiichi Koyano singled to center and Seguignol and Takahashi set the controls for the heart of homeplate for a 2-0 lead. 

But in the home edition, Buffaloes rightfielder Chad Allen thumped one into the centerfield seats to make it 2-1. One out later, shortstop Keiji Obiki singled to left. Catcher Tetsuya Matoyama walked. It would stall out there, though. 

Nippon Ham centerfielder Hichori Morimoto then doubled to leftcenter in the third and, one out later, rightfielder Atsunori Inaba singled to right and Morimoto sojourned home to put it at 3-1. 

After Orix left a man on third in the bottom half, the Fighters went back on the offensive in the fourth, as Takahashi singled to center and went to second on a wild pitch. Jones parachuted one near the line in left for a bloop double that converted Takahashi to nudge it to 4-1. 

The Buffaloes returned fire in their ups when Obiki walked with two outs and Matoyama doubled to left, Obiki sprinting to the plate safely, to pare it to 4-2. Centerfielder Hiroaki Onishi singled to right and Yagi was pointed to the dugout while Sweeney took his place. Second baseman Masahiro Abe grounded out to impede further home invasions. They would obatin three more hits through eight, but no more than one in any inning and so they weren't able to pressure Sweeney or the rest of the Nippon Ham relief corps over that span. 

Orix' pen would handcuff the Fighters on two hits over a similar period, one of those of the infield variety. 

After Nippon Ham left two on in the top of the ninth, reserve leftfielder Arihito Muramatsu singled to left in the bottom of the inning and, one out later, Eiji Mizuguchi pinch hit for Abe and walked. DH Tuffy Rhodes singled to left and propelled Muramatsu in to make it 4-3. But first baseman Hirotoshi Kitagawa flew out to left and that was all she wrote. 

Morimoto became the first man in either league to 100 hits this season.

For Orix, Allen was 1-4 with two strikeouts and is at .276. Rhodes was 3-4 with a walk and is at .291. Third baseman Greg LaRocca was 1-5 with two strikeouts and is at .303. 

For Nippon Ham, Seguignol was 0-3 with an HBP and two strikeouts and is at .256. Jones was 1-4 with three strikeouts and is at .125. 

Softbank Hawks ace Kazumi Saito started a Western League game and threw seven shutout innings on one hit. He was clocked at 92mph. He is expected to be back with the big club around the tenth.