Orix starter Tom Davey was fashioning a one hitter for five innings, but he basically withered and died in the sixth, as the Chiba Lotte Marines went on a seven run bonanza for a 7-4 victory at Chiba Marine Stadium. Lotte starter was throwing a pretty good ballgame for eighth innings, but he was done for a pair in the ninth and so finished the night having surrendered four runs on ten hits while striking out eight for his fifth win. 

After Lotte was victimized by a blown hit and run in the first, the Buffaloes jumped in front in the second when second baseman Mitsutaka Goto co0mmandeered a 1-0 hanging forkball and rode it into the rightfield seats for a 1-0 lead. 

It would remain status quo until the sixth, as centerfielder Tomotaka Sakaguchi doubled off the rightfield wall and continued home one out later on another double against the rightfield fence by third baseman Greg LaRocca to heighten it to 2-0. 

However, Davey would be a new man in the bottom half and newer isn't always better. Third baseman Toshiaki Imae singled to left and shortstop Tsuyoshi Nishioka walked. Centerfielder Daisuke Hayakawa hit a swinging bunt past the mound and beat it out to load the bases. First baseman Julio Zuleta flied out to shallow center. Imae tagged. Sakaguchi rifled a pea to the plate, but the stocky Imae undressed catcher Takeshi Hidaka and kept him from obtaining a firm grasp of the ball, which flew to the backstop. Nishioka used that interval to motor home and it was tied at two. If you're scoring at home, it was a sac fly and an error on Sakaguchi, though undeservedly so. Rightfielder Saburo Omura singled to left and Hayakawa reported. Second baseman Jose Ortiz doubled into the leftfield corner and Omura hastily circled the bases. Shortstop Keiji Obiki's relay hit Omura and carromed into the dugout, which awarded home plate to Ortiz. Davey was a goner and in came Tsuyoshi Kikuchihara. DH Shoitsu Omatsu singled to right. Kikuchihara plunked leftfielder Benny Agbayani on the left ankle, which was protected by a footguard. One out later, Imae singled to right for the sixth run of the inning. Nishioka singled to right to drive Agbayani in to balloon it to 7-2. The next seven Lotte hitters were then retired in order. 

Orix managed only one baserunner over the ensuing two innings. But in the ninth, Buffaloes first baseman Hirotoshi Kitagawa singled to left with one away and Goto singled to center. Rightfielder Shinji Shimoyama grounded into a 4-6 force. Obiki atoned for his miscue by scalding a shot into the leftfield corner for a two RBI double. Marines helmsman Bobby Valentine opted to go to closer Masahide Kobayashi, who elicited a ground ball out of pinch hitter Eiji Mizuguchi to bring the curtain down. 

For Lotte, Ortiz was 1-4 and is at .280. Agbayani was 0-3 with an HBP and is at .279. Zuleta was 1-3 with a sac fly and is at .285. 

For Orix, LaRocca was 2-4 and is at .289. DH Tuffy Rhodes was 0-3 with a walk and two strikeouts and is at .298. 

A solo homer to rightcenter in the top of the 12th inning enabled the Softbank Hawks to shorten the disparity in the Pacific League pennant race to two games by eeking out a 6-5 victory over frontrunning Nippon Ham at Starfin Stadium in Asahikawa, Hokkaido. Toshiya Sugiuchi started for the birds of prey and went 5.2 innings lf three run (two earned) ball on seven hits while striking out five and walking two in a no decision It would be left up to reliever Yoshiaki Fujioka, who finally cadged his first win with two perfect innings. 

Mitsuo Yoshikawa started for the Fighters and went 5.2 innings of five run, seven hit ball. 

Yoshikawa was excellent at the beginning, one hitting Softbank over the first three. Meanwhile, Sugiuchi was a little unlucky, as Nippon Ham catcher Shinji Takahahsi doubled down the leftfield line with one out in the second. Third baseman Eiichi Koyano grounded to second baseman Yuichi Honda, who let it skip under his glove and into the outfield, Takahashi putting it in fourth for the dish and a 1-0 lead. 

But the Hawks answered that in the fourth, as Kawasaki beat out a grounder toward second with one out and, following another out, first baseman Nobuhiko Matsunaka walked. Third baseman Nobuhiro Matsuda tattooed an 86mph fastball into the leftcenterfield alley for a two run double. DH Hidenori Tanoue jackhammered an 86mh fastball into the stands in dead center for a 4-1 edge. 

They enhanced that in the sixth, when Matsuda singled to left and, one out later, leftfielder Shotaro Ide lambasted an 85mph fastball that was up and out over the platr oiff the leftfield wall, Matsuda galloping home on the double, to widen it to 5-1. 

That was countermanded in the last of the inning, as DH Fernando Seguignol singled to left with one out and was erased at second on a ground ball off the bat of Takahashi. Koyano laced a shot off the glove of Sugiuchi and it went as an infield hit. First baseman Mitch Jones walked to load the bases. Second baseman Kensuke Tanaka doubled into the leftfield corner to plate two and trim it to 5-3 and knock Sugiuchi out in favor of Akihiro Yanase, who struckout shortstop Makoto Kaneko. 

Closer Takahiro Mahara ventured out for the ninth for the Hawks and Tomochika Tsuboi pinch hit for Jones and doubled down the leftfield line and was pinch run for by Toshimasa Konta. Tanaka walked to put the tying run on. One out later, centerfielder Hichori Morimoto singled to center to send Konta in while Tanaka blazed into third. Leftfielder Takahito Kudoh scorched one toward third, where it was swallowed up by Matsuda, who got Tanaka into a rundown. Tanaka eventually dashed for the plate and was ruled to have been tagged out by catcher Katsuki Yamazaki, but Fighters manager Trey Hillman went out to argue that Yamazaki had missed tagging Tanaka. The original judgment stood and play continued. Rightfielder Atsunori Inaba singled to center and Morimoto was in to knot it at 5-5. Seguignol flied out and it went into extra innings. 

Nippon Ham was no hit over the last three innings. Softbank had two on and one out in the tenth, but a double play ball kept it even. 

They were presented with a similar opportunity in the11th as well and saw it disappear on two strikeouts. 

However, in the 12th, Kawasaki got a hanging curve ball and drilled it into the rightcenterfield stands to make it 6-5. Southpaw Takayuki Shinohara, normally a specialist against lefthand hitters., put three of the four men he saw in the bottom half away to put the W in the bank for his side. 

Hillman blamed the plate umpire for the defeat after the game. 

For Nippon Ham, Seguignol was 2-5 with a walk and is at .258. Jones was 0-2 with a walk and two strikeouts and is at .160. 

In one of the odder games of the year, the Rakuten Golden Eagles overcame a pro yakyu record four balks, yes, you read that right, by starter Domingo Guzman to stick Seibu with a 7-3 loss. Guzman was pulled after his third balk in fourth inning alone and he flipped off the third base umpire and was ejected. His final line would read 3.2 innings of three run, three hit ball and he also walked three i a no decision. 

The fortunate outcome was due to another huge night from first baseman Jose  Fernandez, who homered twice and drove in five runs. That helped rid the Eagles of Lions starter Hideaki Wakui, who was bullied for six runs on eight hits in 3.1 innings in his seventh loss. 

Seibu leftfielder Takumi Kuriyama homered to right in the first for what would prove to be an abbreviated 1-0 lead. 

But in the home edition, second baseman Tatsuya Shiokawa singled to right with one out and, one out later, DH Takeshi Yamasaki and leftfielder Kenshi Kawaguchi walked to load the bases. Fernandez flattened the first pitch he saw from Wakui and deposited it in the centerfield bleachers for a grand slam and a 4-0 lead. 

They fortified that some more in the second, as rightfielder Akihisa Makita singled to left and went to second on a sacrifice. Shortstop Naoto Watanabe singled to left. Manager Katsuya Nomura opted for the squeeze and Shiokawa got her done to bring Makita in. Third baseman Daisuke Kusano doubled to center and Watanabe wandered home to raise it to 6-1. 

However, Seibu would begin to chip away at that lead in the third. Centerfielder Kazuki Fukuchi walked with one out and went to second on a balk. A groundout got him over to third and Kuriyama singled to right to tally him up and make it 6-2. 

Then we had a very interesting fourth. Lions leftfielder Kazuhiro Wada singled to right with one out and was balked to second and third. Shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima grounded to second and Wada crossed to put it at 6-3. Backup catcher Kosuke Noda walked and was balked to second. Nomura went out to get Guzman, who had been called all four times for not coming to a full stop in the stretch. Satoshi Nagai supplanted Guzman, who was given the gate soon after, and he devished four shutout innings of one hit, two walk pitching to help his team out in a big spot. 

Fernandez homered to center in the seventh to enlarge it to 7-3. 

Shinichiro Koyama took over with two outs in the eighth and obtained the last out of the eighth and the first two outs of the ninth, but Noda reached on an infield hit and he then beaned pinch hitter Takeya Nakamura with a 91mph fastball, earning him an ejection under the dangerous pitch rule. Nomura got on the horn to Hiroki Nakamura, who battled with reserve centerfielder Tomoaki Sato for six pitches before he struck him out on the seventh to end it. 

This was Wakui's shortest outing of the year and because of it Rakuten is within a half a game of fourth place, where Seibu currently resides. 

Fernandez has collected a total of 11 RBIs just over the last two games. He also has five straight seasons of 20 homers. The three balks in the fourth tied a pro yakyu record set by Nippon Ham hurler Terry Ley back in 1974. The previous mark for a full game had been three by seven different men. 

For Seibu, first baseman Alex Cabrera was 0-4 and is at .297. 

For Rakuten, Fernandez was 3-3 with a walk and is at .253.