A bases clearing double by Chiba Lotte Marines rightfielder Saburo Omura in the top of the tenth dissolved a 3-3 standoff and secured their third consecutive victory, this one a 6-3 decision over Seibu at Seibu Dome. Shingo Ono started for Lotte and went 6.1 innings of three run, eight hit ball and wasn't involved in the final outcome. Consequently, the win went to Yasuhiko Yabuta, who fashioned a scoreless ninth on two hits. 

Kazuyuki Hoashi started for the Lions and went seven innings of one run, four hit ball while striking out six and walking none, but closer Alex Graman was taken deep in the ninth to necessitate the bonus baseball. 

Marines shortstop Tsuyoshi Nishioka singled to right in the first and advanced to second on a sacrifice. One out later, Omura singled to right to spring Nishioka in for a 1-0 lead. They would produce only two more singles through seven, Hoashi retiring 14 in a row at one point. That is the maddening thing about Hoashi: he is hard to pick the ball up on and has a fine palm ball and a slider that just seems to sink right as it runs away from lefthanded hitters as it gets into the hitting zone, but then the next time out he will hang everything and get clobbered. If he keeps it down, though, forget it. 

Seibu put a man on third with two outs in the third on a double and a one out groundout, but second baseman Yasuyuki Kataoka slapped a comebacker to Ono to throw cold water on the inning. 

However, in the fourth, shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima singled to center and went to third on two groundouts. Rightfielder Takahiko Sato walked. Third baseman Yoshihito Ishii singled to left and Nakajima trotted in to level it at one apiece.  

In the fifth, Kataoka singled to right and Nakajima bashed a 2-0 shuuto that backed up over the heart of the plate into the rightfield bleachers to put them up 3-1. 

They would put two more on with one out in the seventh, but a strikeout and a popup defused the threat. 

Rookie Tetsuya Iwasaki succeeded Hoashi for the eighth and first baseman Julio Zuleta thundered a one out 1-0 delivery into the rightfield seats to draw within 3-2. One out later, Nishioka doubled to leftcenter, but centerfielder Akira Otsuka grounded out. 

Graman then took the hill for the ninth and the first man he faced, pinch hitter Daisuke Hayakawa, who continues to be the best trade acquisition of the year, got a 2-1 fastball that was up in the zone and waylaid it into the leftfield stands to tie it up at 3-3. One out later, catcher Tomoya Satozaki singled to center. Second baseman Jose Ortiz singled to left to put the winning run in scoring position. But a strikeout and a flyout monkey wrenched that. 

Yabuta, who has been victimized already for a couple of walkoff opposition victories this season, went to the center of the diamond and first baseman Masahide Kaizuka singled to right with one away. He was sacrificed to second. Kataoka singled to left and Kaizuka challenged the arm of Benny Agabayni, who rifled it home to nail Kaizuka for the third out. 

Minoru Yamagishi inherited the ball from Graman and reserve third baseman Koichi Hori grounded one by the mound. Kataoka gloved it, but pulled Kaizuka off the bag for an infield hit. Nishioka walked. The runners were sacrificed over. Hayakawa was intentionally walked to pack the sacks. Omura toasted one into the rightcenter alley and all the way to the wall to clean up the community for a 6-3 lead. Yamagishi was also history and Hsu Ming-chieh got the next two men. 

Closer Masahide Kobayashi had an uneventful bottom half for his 22nd save. 

Seibu is now seven games out of third and there are now whispers about the job prospects of manager Tsutomu Itoh. 

Lotte reliever Satoru Komiyama rung up his 1500th career strikeout by fanning Nakajima in the seventh, becoming the first Marines pitcher to do so since hall of famer Choji Murata back when they were known as the Lotte Orions.

For Seibu, DH Alex Cabrera was 0-5 and is at .302. 

For Lotte, Ortiz was 1-5 and is at .295. Zuleta was 1-4 and is at .271. Agbayani was 1-4 with two strikeouts and is at .280. 

A three run jack by third baseman Nobuhiro Matsuda in the sixth capped off a four run inning as the Softbank Hawks cruised to a 5-1 victory over Orix at Kobe Green Stadium. Kazumi Saito, after 11 days on the shelf, started for the birds of prey and went six shutout innings on two hits, although he walked four, to improve to 4-3. He never allowed more than one baserunner in any inning and tempted the herd into two double plays. 

Yoshihisa Hirano started for Orix and went 6.1 innings of five run, six hit ball to be a convenience store (7-11). 

Hirano was perfect for three, but in the fourth, second baseman Yuichi Honda doubled to left and went to third on a groundout. Centerfielder Hitoshi Tamura flied out to center and Honda crossed for a 1-0 lead. 

They would then break it open in the sixth, as Honda tapped a bleeder toward third and beat it out without a throw. He advanced to second on a sacrifice. One out later, first baseman Nobuhiko Matsunaka walked. Rightfielder Hiroshi Shibahara singled to center and propelled Honda in. Matsuda got a center cut slider and torched it into the great wide open in left and it was 5-0. 

Another Buffaloes runner would be swept off the basepaths in the seventh on a double play and a leadoff single in the eighth came to nothing. So Akihiro Yanase was tapped to close the show down in the ninth and, with one out, DH Tuffy Rhodes punishied a 90mph fastball on the outer half of the plate into the first row of the rightcenterfield bleachers to avert the shutout and end Rhodes' 59 plate appearance homerless streak (15 games), but that would be all for them and 5-1 it was. 

This was Hawks helmsman Sadaharu Oh's 1238th win, putting him in sole posession of eighth place on the all time list. 

For Orix, third baseman Greg LaRocca was 0-4 and is at .287. Rhodes was 2-4 and is at .300. . 

An RBI single to right in the top of the ninth by Nippon Ham pinch hitter Tomochika Tsuboi forsook a 4-4 tie and starter Yu Darvish went the distance on a season worst nine hits but zero walks for a 5-4 victory over Rakuten at Miyagi Prefectural Stadium. Darvish has accumulated 13 wins, a new personal best as he solidifies his claim on the MVP title down the stretch plus it eliminated a three game Fighters losing skid. 

Hisashi Iwakuma started for the Eagles and went 5.2 innings of four run (three earned) ball on nine hits in a no decision. 

Nippon Ham had men on first and third with two outs in the fifth, but it was sabotaged by a strikeout. They would get only one more hit through four. 

Rakuten then nosed ahead in the home version, as shortstop Naoto Watanabe singled to left and moved to second on a sacrifice. Third baseman Daisuke Kusano doubled to right and Watanabe jetted in for a 1-0 lead. Two groundouts stranded Kusano. 

In the third, catcher Akihito Fujii singled to center and Watanabe singled to left. A sacrificed advanced the runners and Kusano doubled to leftcenter to send them in and up it to 3-0. Their offense would then go cold through seven. 

Iwakuma was doing very well for the first 4.1 innings, but with one gone in the fifth, catcher Shinya Tsuruoka reached on an error by Watanabe and centerfielder Hichori Morimoto singled to right, Tsuruoka hotfooting it to third. One ou tlater, rightfielder Atsunori Inaba legged out a ground ball toward short and Morimoto scored to make it 3-1. 

Nippon Ham then pulled ahead in the sixth when third baseman Eiichi Koyano singled to left and, two outs later, shortstop Makoto Kaneko singled to right. Tsuruoka went gapping to rightcenter for a two run triple. Morimoto outran a ground ball toward short and Tsuruoka crossed to put his squad up 4-3. Leftfielder Takahito Kudoh walked, but Inaba grounded out. 

It remained there through seven. In the eighth, though, Kusano doubled to right with two outs and DH Takeshi Yamasaki grounded to backup third baseman Yuji Iiyama, who threw it away, and Kusano wandered home to equalize it at 4-4. First baseman Jose Fernandez grounded to third to limit the damage. 

But in the ninth, Kudoh and Inaba both singled to right off of Kanehisa Arime. Arime was yanked in favor of closer Shinichiro Koyama and Tsuboi pinch hit for Iiyama and singled to right, Kudoh setting the controls for the heart of home plate to snag a 5-4 lead. The runners were bunted over and second baseman Kensuke Tanaka was intentionally walked to jam the baseptahs and setup a double play opportunity. A flyout and a groundout abandoned them. 

Darvish's pitch count was very good, so he encored in the last of the inning and rightfielder Koichi Isobe got aboard on an infield hit. He was pinch run for by Fumikazu Takanami, who was thrown out attempting to steal second. Leftfielder Kenshi Kawaguchi also reached on an infield hit. But a strikeout and a groundout finalized it. 

Darvish has had problems in outdoor stadia and this was his first complete game in one this season. He was clocked at 95mph. 

For Rakuten, Fernandez was 0-4 and is at .241. 

For Nippon Ham, first baseman Fernando Seguignol was 1-4 with two strikeouts and is at .256.