The Nippon Ham Fighters gained a half game in the standings Thursday, as rightfielder Atsunori Inaba singled to right with the bases full in the bottom of the 11th inning at Sapporo Dome to slip by the Rakuten Golden Eagles 6-5. The Fighters magic number to clinch a playoff spot is now ten and it was their fifth sayonara triumph of the season, two of those coming against Chunichi and the other three against Rakuten. How often do you see a stat like THAT?

Ryan Glynn started for Rakuten and just didn't have it, as he was buffeted for five runs, four earned, in 6.1 innings, but at least he didn't walk anyone while striking out six. 

Naoyuki Tateishi started for Nippon Ham and wasn't of much use either, as he was dunned for four runs, two earned, on six hits in 3.1 innings.

Rakuten shortstop Daisuke Kusano singled to center with one out in the first and second baseman Yosuke Takasu singled to right. First baseman Jose Fernandez singled to center to spring Kusano in for a 1-0 lead. 

Nippon Ham had two on and one out in the second and made them statuary. 

Rakuten then built on its thin margin in the third when Kusano doubled to left and moved to third on a groundout. Fernandez walked. DH Takeshi Yamasaki singled to left and Kusano galloped in to make it 2-0.

However, in the home turn, Glynn nailed second baseman Kensuke Tanaka with a delivery two outs and first baseman Michihiro Ogasawara clubbed a shot into the rightfield stands to knot it at two all. Rakuten skipper Katsuya Nomura went out to argue that the ball hit some rubber stripping at the top of the wall and that is why it came back out on to the field, but the umpires judged that the ball had been muffed by a fan and so the deadlock stood. 

The Eagles reasserted themselves in the fourth, though, as rightfielder Eric Valent singled to center with one out and catcher Katsunori Nomura grounded tho shortstop Makoto Kaneko, who booted it. Centerfielder Koichi Sekikawa walked to jam the basepaths. Masaru Takeda replaced Tateishi. Kusano grounded to first and Valent crossed. Takasu singled to right and Nomura was in to put it at 4-2. Fernandez grounded out to end the inning. 

Nippon Ham got a man to third in the bottom half and stood him up. 

The Eagles subsequently scratched out another run in the sixth, as Nomura walked with one out and Sekikawa reached on an infield hit. Pinch hitter Yuji Yoshioka grounded into a 5-4 force. Takasu beat out a grounder toward third and Nomura slid into home safely to heighten it to 5-2.

But Nippon Ham DH Fernando Seguignol leaned into a delivery from Glynn in the inning and drilled it into the leftfield seats to make it 5-3.  They would put two more on in the stanza with one out, but that was bogged down by a double play ball. 

Rakuten had the bases loaded with one out in the seventh and that evaporated on a pair of strikeouts. 

That would be huge. When Nippon Ham came to bat, Kaneko singled to center and went to second on a sacrifice. Tanaka singled to left to get him in. One out later, Seguignol doubled to left. Inaba walked to juice the bags. Centerfielder Tsuyoshi Shinjo walked to force Tanaka in and even it at five apiece. Third baseman Jose Macias, with a chance to break it open, struckout. 

Rakuten loaded the bases again in the eighth and two flyouts stymied that. 

Fighters reliever Hideki Okajima struckout the side in the ninth. The team's batsmen had two on and two out in the bottom half, but Shinjo grounded out to send it into extra innings. 

Okajima and Michael Nakamura suppressed the Rakuten attack over the ensuing two innings. That set the stage for the Nippon Ham 11th, as Toyohiko Yoshida walked Tanaka and Ogasawara singled to center. Pinch hitter Yukio Tanaka also walked and the bags were pregnant. Inaba singled to right and, after a ridiculous 411 pitches and five hours and 14 minutes, it was over. 

This was Inaba's first sayonara hit since 2001, when he took Yomiuri reliever Tsuyoshi Jobe deep for a walkoff grand slam while he was still with Yakult.

For Rakuten, Fernandez was 2-5 with a walk and is at .308. Short was 0-6 and is at .312. Valent was 2-6 and is at .200. 

For Nippon Ham, Seguignol was 2-4 with a walk and is at .274. Macias was 1-4 with two strikeouts and is at .216. 

Orix Outfielder Keiichi Hirano made a rehab start in the Western League for his first action in nearly four months. He said he was happy to be back chasing balls around again. 

Rakuten The Eagles minor league outfit played a team of hopefuls for the Chinese olympic baseball squad Thursday and dealt them a 15-1 shellacking. The Chinese are 2-4 on this trip. 

Softbank Manager Sadaharu Oh, accompanied by his daughter Rie, is walking from Keio University Hospital to Shinjuku Station in Tokyo everyday, a roundtrip of about 2.7 miles, to keep himself in some kind of shape while he works on being able to get some kind of regular eating regimen for himself after he had his stomach removed in July. However, one wonders how he can do these long walks without being hounded for autographs every five feet. 

Sankei Sports is saying that the Hawks will end up with Kinki University lefthander Kenji Otonari, who they see as a possible starting rotation candidate. He also serves a need as a second lefthander for them in the starting group provided, of course, that he is as good as advertised.