A single to center with two on in the top of the tenth inning by Orix first baseman Hirotoshi Kitagawa dissolved a 3-3 standoff and repelled the Chiba Lotte Marines 4-3. Mamoru Kishida continues to be very good, going 6.2 innings of three run, eight hit ball in a no decision, the win instead being accorded to reliever Masanobu Okubo, his fourth, for his two shutout innings. 

Shunsuke Watanabe started for Lotte and went seven innings of three run, six hit ball in a no decision. 

Buffaloes leftfielder Arihito Muramatsu outran a ground ball to short with one out in the first and third baseman Greg LaRocca singled to left. DH Tuffy Rhodes walked to load the bases. Kitagawa flied out to right and Muramatsu tagged up and scored for a 1-0 lead. Shortstop Mitsutaka Goto popped up to impede further home invasions. 

In the third, centerfielder Keiichi Hirano singled to center for the herd and went to second on a sacrifice. One out later, Rhodes monstered a 3-2 curve ball into the rightfield seats for his 399th homer and to widen it to 3-0. 

But most of that would evaporate in the bottom half, as third baseman Toshiaki Imae singled to left and shortstop Shunichi Nemoto singled to center. Centerfielder Daisuke Hayakawa grounded into a 4-6 force. First baseman Kazuya Fukuura rolled a ball into the hold between third and short. Goto dove and snared it, but couldn't get off a throw and Imae found paydirt. DH Julio Zuleta singled to left and Hayakawa navigated his way home to shorten it to 3-2. Rightfielder Saburo Omura then brought things to a screeching halt with a 6-4-3 double play. 

Orix had two oin with two out in the fourth, but a groundout stymied that rally. 

The Marines restored equilibrium in the last of the frame, as catcher Tomoya Satozaki singled to center and second baseman Jose Ortiz bounded into a 5-4 force. Leftfielder Shoitsu Omatsu doubled down the rightfield line. Imae flew out to left and Ortiz tagged up and was tallied up to put it at three all. They would amass only three more singles from there on in, however. 

The Buffs wouldn't do any better, mustering only two hits from the fifth through the ninth. 

So it went into the tenth and Yusuke Kawasaki, who had originally been put in beginning in the eighth, got two outs and then Tadahiro Ogino was assigned to tackle LaRocca and walked him. Rhodes also walked. Kitagawa singled to center to bookend the ballgame with his second RBI and a 4-3 edge. 

Daisuke Kato went in there in the bottom half and exiled three of the four men he saw to lock it up and kick Lotte down to third place.

Let me say this about this year's edition of the Buffaloes: even though I'm not a fan of Terry Collins after what happened when he was running the Angels, he has restored a sense of direction to this team that flailed badly in 2006 under Katsuhiro Nakamura. It also helps that they brough in LaRocca and Rhodes, but now the players have more of a sense of stability than the arbitrariness that afflicted them last season. The only question now is how much player development that their idiotic front office will allow Collins to engage in because they really need it. So far, he hasn't been given much to work with in that department. 

For Lotte, Zuleta was 3-5 and is at .284. Ortiz was 0-4 with two strikeouts and is at .280. 

For Orix, LaRocca was 1-4 with a walk and is at .287. Rhodes was 1-3 with two walks and is at .300. 

Lead by six RBIs from first baseman Jose Fernandez, Rakuten starter Masahiro Tanaka had a big early edge to work with against Seibu and thus became the first rookie fresh out of high school to post ten wins since Daisuke Matsuzaka in 1999 with seven dominant innings of one run, two hit ball while striking out ten and walking none in a 14-2 verdict at Miyagi Prefectural Stadium. The Eagles set a new team record with 15 wins for the month, the same number as Yomiuri. 

So while you contemplate the meaning of that, Lions starter Junichi Kawahara went an inning of five run, three hit ball to absorb his second loss. Given how ineffective Kawahara, a onetime number one draft pick, as been over the last few years, he is probably on his way to being a civilian. 

Kawahara plunked second baseman Yosuke Takasu with one out in the first and third baseman Daisuke Kusano singled to right. DH Takeshi Yamasaki walked to load the bases. One out later, rightfielder Koichi Isobe singled to right to invite Takasu and Kusano in. Fernandez detonated a hanging slider beyond the centerfield wall for a 5-0 lead. 

Seibu rightfielder Takahiko Sato homered to right in the second to pare it to 5-1. T6anaka would then strikeout the side. 

Rakuten would put two on with two out in the second, but a popup sinkholed that.

In the third, though, leftfielder Kenshi Kawaguchi walked against Kimura and, one out later, Fernandez singled to right. Centerfielder Akihisa Makita doubled to left to plate Kawaguchi. Catcher Motohiro Shima singled to left to drive Fernandez in. Shortstop Naoto Watanabe singled to right and Makita was accounted for to hike it to 8-1. 

After the second, Tanaka and reliever Kawagishi combined to retire 18 of the next 20.

In the fourth, Takasu got on due to an error by third baseman Yoshihito Ishii. One out later, Yamasaki beat out a ground ball. Following another out, Isobe singled to left to pack the sacks. Fernandez doubled against the leftfield wall and cleared the bases to make it 11-1. 

They would dent Kimura again in the seventh, as Makita doubled to left with one out and Shima singled to right to score him and put it at 12-1. 

Kawaguchi singled to right in the eighth off of Hsu Ming-chieh and so did backup centerfielder Teppei Tsuchiya. Reserve first baseman Yuji Yoshioka doubled to left and boosted both runners home to exacerbate it to 14-1. 

A single to center in the ninth with one out and a two out RBI double to left resulted in the second Lions run and that would be all she wrote. 

The Eagles are only 1.5 games behind Seibu for fourth place. 

Tanaka became the first Rakuten pitcher to win ten games ever. Yes, ever. Moreoever, he is just the sixth rookie right off the schoolboy diamonds to win ten since the draft was implemented in 1965. He was clocked at 94mph and now has 151 strikeouts, matching Matsuzaka's total for his debut year. At 146 innings, he was also the fastest to 150 ever, eclipsing the great Hanshin, etc hurler Yutaka Enatsu, who did it in 153. Tanaka also hasn't walked anyone in his last two starts. 

Tanaka's mother Kazumi watched the game on television and told the press later that it "wa like a dream" for her son to accomplish so many victories his first year. Overall, since 1950, he is the 15th rookie right out of high school to get to ten victories. 

For Seibu, DH Alex Cabrera took home a golden sombrero, four strikeouts in four times up and is at .301. 

For Rakuten, Fernandez was 3-4 and is at .246. 

Manager Katsuya Nomura has formally been asked back for 2008 by team officials and he is expected to accept. His three year deal runs out after next season.