Seibu Lions ace Daisuke Matsuzaka went all the way Tuesday on two runs, one earned, and seven hts while striking out eight and walking none to knock the Softbank Hawks into third place with a 6-2 victory. Matsuzaka established a new personal best with his 17th win and he survived having a ball hit off his left wrist in the eighth to finish it. Alex   Cabrera drove in four runs to lend the Yokohama High product all that he would need. 

Nagisa Arakaki started for Softbank and displayed suspect command, as he needed 70 pitches to last through three innings of three run (two earned) ball on six hits and was a loser for the fourth time in 2006. 

Hawks first baseman Julio Zuleta gave the Lions their first run in the second, as leftfieldrr Kazuhiro Wada singled to center and DH Yoshihito Ishii walked. Third baseman Hiroshi Hirao laid down a sac bunt, but it was hard and right at Arakaki, who fired to third for the force. Catcher Ginjiro Sumitani grounded by the mound and second baseman Yuichi Honda grabbed it and threw to first, where Zuleta let it get past him for an error and Ishii kept on motoring to the plate for a 1-0 lead while Hirao went to second. With two strikes on rightfielder Kazuki Fukuchi, Hirao attempted a steal of third. Fukuchi swung and missed for strike three and catcher Naoki Matoba shot Hirao down at third for a strike 'em out, throw 'em out double play. 

The Hawks had two on and two out in the third and didn't get anything done there. They were punished for that oversight in the home edition when second baseman Hiroyuki Takagi doubled to leftcenter with one out and, following another out, Cabrera got a 91mph fastball up and perhaps just off the outside corner and muscled it into the centerfield stands to make it 3-0. 

The Hawks finally announced their presence on the scoreboard in the sixth when shortstop Munenori Kawasaki singled to center and stole second. One out later, leftfielder Nobuhiko Matsunaka beat out a high chopper for an infield  hit. Zuleta singled to center and picked Kawasaki up to put it at 3-1. A groundout and a flyout impeded further offensive progress. 

Seibu had two on and one out in the bottom portion and they were made into spectators. In the seventh, though, shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima singled to right against reliever Shuji Yoshida with one out and Cabrera walked. Yoshiaki Fujioka supplanted Yoshida and the runners moved up on a groundout. Ishii was intentionally walked to get to Hirao, who walked to force Nakajima in and make it 4-1. 

Softbank countered with a single to left by Kawasaki in the eighth and, one out later, Matsunaka grounded to Takagi, who let it go through the wickets, and Kawasaki blazed to third on the error. Zuleta laced a shot off of the heel of Matsuzaka's glove as well as his wrist. He knocked it down and threw to first for the out as Kawasaki crossed to shrink the red ink to 4-2. Matsuzaka went to the dugout and received treatment while manager Tsutomu Itoh got the bullpen busy. Matsuzaka returned to the mound and rightfielder Hiroshi Shibahara flied out to bring the curtain down on the inning. 

The Lions took another piece out of Softbank in the bottom segment, as Takagi singled to left with two outs and Nakajima singled to center. Cabrera tattooed a fastball off the centerfield fence for a two run double and a 6-2 lead. 

Matsuzaka, who was clocked at 92mph, then retired the side in order in the ninth to put it to rest. 

Arakaki said afterward that his fastball had little movement on it. 

For Softbank, Zuleta was 1-4 and is at .285. Jolbert Cabrera entered the game as a pinch hitter and ultimately went 0-2 and is at .259.

For Seibu, Cabrera was 2-4 with a walk and two strikeouts and is at .326. He has homered four times in his last five games and now has 100 RBIs.  

A sixth inning RBI isngle to right by Nippon Ham rightfielder Atsunori Inaba kept the team at the top of the circuit Tuesday with a 2-1 victory at Miyagi Prefectural Stadium. Starter Masaru Takeda was around only for 4.1 innings due to having already given up seven hits as well as a run, so the bullpen handled it from there, holding the Eagles to three hits over the next 4.2 innings. Reliever Takehiko Oshimoto was accorded his fifth win against no losses with 1.2 shutout innings. 

Kanehisa Arime started for Rakuten and was serviceable, 5.2 innings of two run, five hit ball on 91 pitches. 

Takeda faced a two on, nobody out dilemma in the third, but a foulout,a strikeout and a flyout cashiered it. 

Fighters first baseman Michihiro Ogasawara then doubled to right in the fourth with one out and dashed home on a followup two bagger to left by DH Fernando Seguignol for a 1-0 lead. Seguignol went to third on a groundout, but was stranded when centerfielder Tsuyoshi Shinjo popped to short. 

That was gone as quickly as Big Daddy Don Garlits off the starting line in the bottom half, as first baseman Rick Short doubled to right with one out and DH Takeshi Yamasaki doubled to left to make it 1-1 in a kind of a parallel universe recapitulation of the Fighters score. Catcher Akihito Fujii reached on an infield hit and Yamasaki advanced to third. Manager Katsuya Nomura called for the squeeze, but amazingly, Shiokawa whiffed on a changeup and Yamasaki was as out at the plate as bell bottoms. 

Rakuten centerfielder Tetsuya Iida doubled to left with one out in the fifth and that is when the pitching coach came to get Takeda and mix Oshimoto into this thing. A strikeout and a groundout cleared the matter up. 

Arime then walked both second baseman Kensuke Tanaka and Ogasawara to begin the sixth and Seguignol grounded into a 4-6-3 double play,. Tanaka going to third. Inaba banged the single into right and it was 2-1. 

Rakuten had a single apiece in the sixth, seventh and eighth, but two of those instances were with two outs and were easily resolved. 

Closer Michael Nakamura pitched a perfect ninth for his league record tying 38th save and his team's 80th win, the first time in 45 years that they have achieved that. It was also the club's fifth five game win skein this season. .
 

For Rakuten, third baseman Jose Fernandez was 0-4 and is at .300. Short was 3-4 and is at .326. 

For Nippon Ham, Seguignol was 1-4 and is at .290. Third baseman Jose Macias was 0-3 and is at .223. 

An unearned run in the first inning was enough to deal Chiba Lotte Marines starter Hiroyuki Kobayashi a 1-0 defeat, as Buffaloes moundsman Tom Davey painted his first career shutout (that may include anywhere in an MLB organization) with a four hitter on a 125 pitches. Kobayashi also went the distance and is only 8-7 despite a 2.79 ERA and a superlative 1.08 WHIP.

In that first inning, Orix second baseman Makoto Moriyama doubled off the leftfield wall with one out. Rightfielder Arihito Muramatsu grounded back to Kobayashi. Moriyama decided to go for third and Kobayashi's throw there was in plenty of time, but third baseman Takeshi Aono just flat out missed catching it and Moriyama rounded the bag and scored for a 1-0 lead. 

Orix had two on and one out in the third and two on and two out in the fourth and kissed them off. 

Davey had permitted only two hits over four before Lotte leftfielder Naotaka Takehara singled to center in the fifth and rightfielder Koji Hirashita singled to right, Takehara getting safely into third. One out later, second baseman Hisao Heiuchi hit a bouncer to first with the infield drawn in. First baseman Ryota Aikawa leapt and caught it and then rifled it home to get Takehara. Shortstop Tsuyoshi Nishioka grounded out to short and the Marines were no hit over the remaining four innings.

This was Davey's tenth win, the first time he has attained that figure in Japan. 

For Lotte, Benny Agbayani walked in a pinch hit appearance in the ninth and is at .276. 

For Orix, DH Karim Garcia was 0-3 with a walk and two strikeouts and is at .244. 

Lotte's mascot dog Elf-chan and the Buffs mascot monkey Go-kun took part in Tuesday's game. Elf-chan carried the ball out to the mound for whoever was supposed to make the ceremonial first pitch and Go-kun "helped" out the grounds crew after the fifth. Then they were brought  together  for the photographers despite the fact that in Japan "dogs and monkeys" is the equivalent of what we say in english about the relationship between dogs and cats. 

Orix Circle the 28th on your calandar because it could be the day that the ax falls on manager Katsuhiro Nakamura. Nakamura is scheduled to report on the team's dismal season then and a decision as to whether he will continue being the field boss is likely to be handed down. 

Rakuten Team president Toru Shimada went to Tohoku Gakuin University to meet with highly sought after pitcher Takayuki Kishi. Kishi decided that he would meet with interested teams just one time apiece and since this was the second time a representative from the Eagles showed up the young moundsman took a pass on talking with him. Yomiuri and Seibu are also very interested. 

Eric Valent was put on waivers Tuesday. He is expected to return to the U.S. Wednesday.He was in all of 24 games and had 74 official at bats and batted .189. However, those at bats were sporadic and it hindered his ability to get in any offensive rhythm at the plate. While I don't usually say this because most of the itme its horseshit, Valent was not given a fair shot. 

Infielder Daisuke Kusano will be demoted Wednesday and fellow infielder Wataru Nishimura will be recalled. 

Seibu Daisuke Matsuzaka's last start of the regular season will be on the 26th against Lotte at Seibu Dome n what will be his last such appearance in Japan with the exception of the upcoming playoffs and maybe Japan Series. 

The Lions plan to draft Washinomiya High sidearmer Tatsuyoshi Masubuchi on the first round Monday. If there is a lottery over his services, manager Tsutomu Itoh will be the one making the pick  int he quest for the lucky ticket.