The Nippon Ham Fighters were lucky Sunday even though they lost, because all three pennant contenders were defeated and so they continue to hold on to a slim one game lead after an 8-4 loss to Seibu at Sapporo Dome. Chikara Onodera went five innings and was tattooed for four runs on nine hits for his fourth win. 

Tomoya Yagi started for Nippon Ham and went four innings of six run (five earned) ball on six hits to sink to 3-4. 

Lions leftfielder Kazuhiro Wada walked in the second and shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima torqued a Yagi pitch into the leftfield seats for a 2-0 lead. 

But Fighters shortstop Makoto Kaneko singled to center with one out in the third and was thrown out attempting to steal second. Centerfielder Hichori Morimoto walked. Second baseman Kensuke Tanaka homered to right to tie it up at 2-2. Rightfielder Atsunori Inaba walked. Third baseman and cleanup hitter Eiichi Koyano singled to center. However, catcher Shinji Takahashi popped out. 

Seibu, though, would reassert itself in the fourth when DH Alex Cabrera doubled to left and Wada punished one into the leftfield stands to tgo up 4-2. 

They expanded on that in the fifth when catcher Ginjiro Sumitani singled to center and chugged home on a double to left by centerfielder Shogo Akada. Takehiko Oshimoto supplanted Yagi. One out later, rightfielder Takahiko Sato conked one into the great wide open in right and it was 7-2 Lions. 

Nippon Ham didn't give up. In the bottom of the inning, Morimoto singled to right and was erased on a 5-4 force off the bat of Tanaka. Inaba doubled to right. One out later, Takahashi singled to left and both Tanaka and Inaba galloped in to slice it to 7-4. 

But Nakajima singled to center in the sixth and went to third on a sacrifice and a groundout. Sumitani singled to right to pump it up to 8-4. 

The Fighters put two on with one out in the seventh, but that was rent asunder on two flyouts and they would gather only a single each in the two innings after that. This was the first time that the Lions had taken back to back tilts in a month. 

Tanaka tied a Pacific League record with his 50th sacrifice bunt of the season in the first. 

For Seibu, Cabrera was 2-5 and is at .299. Alex Graman also got into the game and devised a scoreless ninth on a hit to reduce his ERA to 4.30. 

For Nippon Ham, DH Fernando Seguignol was 0-4 with two strikeouts and is at .249. One of the chief reasons the Fighters grabbed the pennant last season was a late in the schedule charge by Seguignol, but that has yet to show itself in 2007. 

Softbank starter Rick Guttormson was perfect for three innings, but he was continually pressed after that and, with the help of reliever Takayuki Shinohara, fell by the wayside in the seventh for three runs that enabled the Orix Buffaloes to capture a 5-4 victory at Fukuoka Dome. 

Hidetaka Kawagoe started for the herd and went five innings of four run, eight hit ball in a no decision. So it would be rookie Satoshi Komatsu who was credited with his first pro win after a scoreless sixth on a walk. 

Hawks second baseman Yuichi Honda beat out a chopper toward the mound and promptely got himself picked off. Shortstop Munenori Kawasaki tripled to rightcenter, so Honda's misadventure cost his team a run. One out later, DH Nobuhiko Matsunaka singled to center to send Kawasaki home for a 1-0 lead. 

Kawagoe battened down the hatches after that, allowing only a hit and an HBP through four. 

Orix then overturned the Softbank advantage in the fifth, as rightfielder Chad Allen singled to left and went to second on a sacrifice. Catcher Takeshi Hidaka singled to center to see Allen in. Centerfielder Tomotaka Sakaguchi doubled down the rightfield line. Leftfielder Arihito Muramatsu flied out to center and Hidaka tagged up and crossed for a 2-1 edge. Third baseman Greg LaRocca popped up to let Sakaguchi rot. 

But Kawagoe weakened in the home edition. First baseman Mitsuru Honma singled to left and went to second on a sacrifice. Honda doubled to right to ring Honma in. Kawasaki doubled down the rightfield line for an RBI. Centerfielder Hitoshi Tamura singled back through the middle and got Kawasaki in for a 4-2 advantage. They would get only one more hit the rest of the way. 

Guttormson would then be a lucky boy in the sixth. DH Ruffy Rhodes smacked a hard ground ball to the right of second base. Honda ranged to his right and snared it with a dive in short rightfield and got up and threw it to first to get the former Cub by an eyelash. First baseman Hirotoshi Kitawa walked. Second baseman Mitsutaka Goto singled to right. Allen was sawed off and hit a little pop fly that Guttormson caught and then he gunned it to first to double Goto off. 

However, he wasn't that fortunate in the seventh. Shortstop Keiji Obiki singled to right and Shinohara was inserted to deal with Hidaka. Hidaka singled to center. They were sacrificed over. Muramatsu singled to left for a run. Akihiro Yanase was passed the ball and LaRocca walked to fill the bags. So Yanase left departed and in came C.J. Nitkowski, who popped Rhodes up. He was substituted for Akio Mizuta. Kitagawa singled to center and both Hidaka and Muramatsu crossed to make it 5-4. The next seven Buffaloes then went down in order. 

Honda singled to center in the bottom bit off of Yasunari Takagi, but Takagi, Masanobu Okubo and Daisuke Kato banished the ensuing nine Softbank sitckmen to ice it, Kato striking out the side in the ninth to end it in style. That also terminated the Hawks four game win string. 

For Orix, LaRocca was 1-4 with a walk and is at .285. Rhodes was 0-3 with a walk and is at .289. Allen was 1-4 and is at .272. 

A sacrifice fly by first baseman Rakuten first baseman Jose Fernandez liquidated a 3-3 standoff with the Chiba Lotte Marines for a 4-3 victory at Miyagi Prefectural Stadium. Hideki Asai started for the Eagles and went 5.2 innings of three run (two earned) ball on ten hits while he didn't strikeout or walk anyone in a no decision. The W was left at will call for Hiroki Yamamura, his sixth. 

Shunsuike Watanabe started for Lotte and went 5.2 innings of three run (two earned) ball on eight hits while striking out two and walking one in a no decision. 

It was 0-0 until the third, when centerfielder Teppei Tsuchiya chopped one off the turf and all Watanabe could do with it was read the inscription on it. Catcher Motohiro Shima laid down what was supposed to be a sacrifice bunt. Watanabe gobbled it up and rifled it to second, but shortstop Tsuyoshi Nishioka geeked the peg for an error. Shortstop Naoto Watanabe grounded one between the mound and third. Third baseman Toshiaki Imae gloved it and threw to first on a hop that first baseman Kazuya Fukuura couldn't handle. It was ruled an infield hit and the bases were loaded. Second baseman Yosuke Takasu singled to left to get Tsuchiya in. Third baseman Daisuek Kusano grounded to the right of second. Second baseman Jose Ortix lunged for it and picked it before flipping to second for the force, Shima scoring on the play for a 2-0 lead. DH Takeshi Yamasaki grounded into a double play to snuff the rally. 

But with one out in the fifth, catcher Tomoya Satozaki grounded one near the line at third. Kusano gloved it and gunned it to first, but it was wild and Satozaki advanced to second. Imae singled to left. Hisao Heiuchi pinch hit for Nishioka and singled to right to clear a path for Satozaki to the plate to make it 2-1. Centerfielder Daisuke Hayakawa was hit by a pitch. Fukuura, though, grounded into a 4-6-3 double play. 

Nevertheless, they would cut to the front of the line in the sixth, as rightfielder Saburo Omura singled to right and Ortix carromed a shot off the leftfield fence. Leftfielder Shoitsu Omatsu flied out to left and Omura tagged up and scored to tie it up. DH Julio Zuleta singled to left to left. Satozaki grounded to third and Kusano elected to try for the double play, but the throw to first was late and Ortiz crossed for a 3-2 edge. 

Rakuten, though, would come back to tie in the bottom half, as Yamasaki and rightfielder Kenshi Kawaguchi each singled to right with two away and Fernandez singled to left to shoot Yamasaki in to make it 3-3. 

They would put two on with two out in the seventh, but that would be for nought. 

But in the eighth, Yamasaki grounded one into the hole between third and short. Imae caught it and threw wide of first for an error, Yamasaki progressing to second on the play. Fumikazu Takanami pinch ran for Yamasaki and was sacrificed to third. Fernandez got a hold of one and thought it was gone when he made contact, but the wind knocked it down for a fly out to center and Takanami tagged up and blazed home for a 4-3 lead. 

Shinichiro Koyama was spotless in the ninth and it was time to head to the hotel. 

The Eagles did away with their three game losing skid.

For Lotte, Ortiz was 2-4 and is at .297. Zuleta was 2-4 and is at .288. 

For Rakuten, 1-3 with a sac fly and is at .259. Leftfielder Rick Short was 2-4 and is at .338. He is at the top of the Pacific League batting race by a few points over Atsunori Inaba. 

Rakuten Under the "you gotta be kidding!" rubric comes the idea from manager Katsuya Nomura that Nippon Ham ought to take a look at hiring Tsuyoshi Shinjo as its field boss in terms of sheer personal popularity. Shinjo recently made a statement indicating that he would like to get back into baseball in the next couple of years, but as a player. Let's hope that thought is just a temporary impulse.