The Chiba Lotte Marines loaded the bases with one out in the eighth inning, but Nippon Ham closer Michael Nakamura retired five in a row to preserve a 4-3 victory at Obihiro for the Fighters 12th consecutive Sunday triumph. Nippon Ham starter Mitsuo Yoshikawa went 6.1 innings of three run, five hit ball while striking out four and walking three in his third win. 

Shingo Ono started for Lotte and went 5.2 innings of four run, nine hit pitching in his seventh loss. 

The Marines put two men on with nobody out in the second, but a flyout, a strikeout and a groundout sabotaged it. 

But in the second half, Fighters first baseman Fernando Seguignol doubled to rightcenter and, one out later, leftfielder Tomochika Tsuboi walked. Third baseman Naoto Inada grounded into a 5-4 force. Catcher Shinya Tsuruoka singled to right and Seguignol crossed for a 1-0 lead. Shortstop Makoto Kaneko flied out to left for the third out. 

Lotte, though, retorted in the third when third baseman Toshiaki Imae ripped a first pitch fastball on the outer half into the rightfield seats to equalize it at one all. 

However, Nippon Ham centerfielder Hichori Morimoto dropped one into leftcenter and hustled it into a double in the bottom stanza. Second baseman Kensuke Tanaka broke an 0-31 plate appearance slump with a double down the rightfield line that propelled Morimoto in. DH Atsunori Inaba singled to right and Tanaka blazed in to go up 3-1. 

The Marines would creep closer in the top of the fourth, as second baseman Jose Ortiz walked and went to third on a single to right by leftfielder Benny Agbayani. DH Naotaka Takehara grounded into a 6-4-3 double play and Ortiz was in to narrow it to 3-2. 

Kaneko, though, doubled to left with one out in the home edition and, one out later, Tanaka singled to center to redeem him and make it 4-2. They would produce only two more singles from there on in. 

Again, Lotte would hang something in the scoreboard, as Imae and shortstop Tsuyoshi Nishioka both singled to center and they were advanced on a sacrifice. Catcher Tomoya Satozaki grounded to short and Imae hustled in to contract the disparity to 4-3. Rightfielder Saburo Omura flied out to center and Yoshikawa was also perfect in the sixth. 

Yoshikawa was given the hook after obtaining the first out of the seventh in favor of Hisashi Takeda, who coughed up a double to leftcenter by Imae. But a flyout and a groundout bogged that chance down. 

In the eighth, though, Omura singled to center with one away and Ortiz singled to left. Nakamura was passed the ball and Agbayani singled to left to jam the basepaths. Shoitsu Omatsu pinch hit for Takehara and looped a dying quail into shallow right, but backup rightfielder Toshimasa Konta made a nice sliding catch and nobody advanced. First baseman Kazuya Fukuura, who is in the midst of one of the worst slumps of his career and thus was penciled into the eight hole, grounded to short and Nakamura assembled a 1-2-3 ninth to put it in the bag.

For Nippon Ham, Seguignol was 1-4 and is at .249. 

For Lotte, Ortiz was 1-2 with two walks and is at .294. Agbayani was 2-4 and is at .295. 

The Softbank Hawks continued their push to get back on top in the Pacific League standings, as shortstop Munenori Kawasaki singled to right with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth to dissolve a 3-3 deadlock with Seibu and seize the day 4-3. The Hawks are now a season best tying 12 games over .500 and starter Toshiya Sugiuchi, who went all the way on six hits and ten strikeouts, picked up his pro yakyu lead tying 13th win. 

Hideaki Wakui started for the Lions and also went the distance on nine hits and struckout nine but also walked four, two of shich showed up on the scoreboard. 

Kawasaki ratcheted a first pitch 86mph fastball into the rightfield seats with one out in the first for a 1-0 lead. 

Kawasaki would then haunt Wakui again in the third, as catcher Katsuki Yamazaki singled to center and leftfielder Naoyuki Omura bounced into a 4-6 force. Omura stole second. Kawasaki singled to center. Wakui threw one in the dirt that went behind catcher Toru Hosokawa. Yamazaki rushed to the plate, but Hosokawa recovered and flipped to Wakui, who tagged Omura out. Centerfielder Hitoshi Tamura struckout and the opportunity went by the wayside. 

Sugiuchi was perfect for the first four innings and he was rewarded for that in the bottom half when teammate and DH Nobuhiko Matsunaka walked and third baseman Hiroki Kokubo also wangled a free pass. Rightfielder and speedster Hiroshi Shibahara beat out a ground ball toward short to load the bases. First baseman Brian Buchanan singled to left and Matsunaka and Kokubo found paydirt to make it 3-0. 

However, in the top of the fifth, Seibu rightfielder Takahiko Sato singled to center and DH Kazuhiro Wada singled to right. The next two men struckout, but Hosokawa got a hold of a breaking ball and crushed it into the leftfield bleachers to level it at three apiece. 

Sugiuchi was tested again in the seventh, as Sato singled to right and Wada beat out a chopper into the hole. They were moved up on a sacrifice, but first baseman Akira Etoh whiffed and Hosokawa grounded to short. They would garner only an infield knock after that. 

Wakui had also found a groove and allowed only an infield single from the fifth through the eighth. In the bottom of the ninth, though, Shibahara singled to left and Buchanan walked. Buchanan was pinch run for by Hisao Arakane. Second baseman Yuichi Honda attempted to sacrifice them over, but he dribbled it out jus in front of the plate and Hosokawa grabbed it and fired to third for the force. Mitsuru Honma pinch hit for Yamazaki and singled to left to pack the sacks. Omura struckout. Kawasaki, who was 12-21 against Wakui lifetime before this at bat, was now up with no place to put him. Wakui threw a cutter and Kawasaki wacked it through the right side and this baby was over. 

Wakui was clocked at 91mph, but was mostly in the mid-80's. He is still having some velocity problems, which means he is likely just tired.

For Softbank, Buchanan was 1-2 with an HBP and is at .278. 

Orix starter Mamoru Kishida went seven innings of one run, five hit ball to get his team back out of last with a 4-2 victory over Rakuten at Kobe Green Stadium. Domingo Guzman went five innings of four run, four hit ball to sink to 1-1 for the Eagles. 

Buffaloes centerfielder Keiichi Hirano singled to center and went to second on a sacrifice and somehow ended up on third before third baseman Greg LaRocca grounded to third to drive Hirano in for a 1-0 lead. 

They loaded the bases with one out in the second, but that was caved in on a double play ball. 

Kishida permitted only a single over the first four innings and the herd improved their advantage in the bottom of the fourth when DH Tuffy Rhodes lambasted a breaking ball into the rightfield seats to make it 2-0. 

That became a little more precarious in the sixth, though, as Rakuten catcher Motohiro Shima singled to right with one out and shortstop Naoto Watanabe grounded into a 6-4 force. Second baseman Yosuke Takasu doubled to left and Watanabe sprinted home to pare it to 2-1. 

But Guzman walked leftfielder Arihito Muramatsu in the bottom portion and went to second on a wild pitch. LaRocca singled to left to transport Muramatsu to the promised land. Rhodes walked. First baseman Hirotoshi Kitagawa grounded into a 3-6-3 double play. Rightfielder Chad Allen singled to right and it was 4-1. 

The Eagles filled the bags in the eighth with one away against Masanobu Okubo, but Takasu, who leads NPB in average with runners in scoring position, grounded into a double play to throw a monkey wrench into the works. 

In the ninth, however, Rakuten DH Takeshi Yamasaki flattened a one out fastball from closer Daisuke Kato deep into the leftfield seats to draw within 4-2. Following another out, rightfielder Koichi Isobe doubled to right. But first baseman Jose Fernandez, representing the tying run, struckout to finalize it.

For Orix, LaRocca was 1-4 and is at .295. Rhodes was 1-3 with a walk and is at .312. Allen is 2-3 and is at .270. 

For Rakuten, Fernandez was 1-4 and is at .240. Leftfielder Rick Short was 2-4 with two strikeouts and is at .319.