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Some rights reserved.
Buffaloes stretch lead over Lions with win
TOKOROZAWA, Saitama -- The Orix Buffaloes are running toward a Pacific League playoff spot like a pack of wild horses.
Lee Seung Yeop socked a three-run homer and lefty Shinya Nakayama extended his career-best personal winning streak to six, allowing one run on three hits over 5.2 innings as the Buffaloes topped the Seibu Lions 5-3 on Tuesday at Seibu Dome.
The victory -- in the opener of a pivotal three-game set -- pushed the second-place Buffaloes five games above the Lions for the third and final playoff spot.
Orix, which was in fifth place on July 31, remained two games behind Nippon Ham, winners over Rakuten. Nakayama (8-7), whose last loss came on July 30th, admitted he had some butterflies.
“It was the first game of a pretty big series for the team and I was nervous, but I just tried to go all out,” the sixth-year hurler said in the hero interview.
Keiji Obiki and Mitsutaka Goto, who reached base for the 42nd consecutive game, added RBI singles, and the pen made it stand up. Mamoru Kishda notched his 32nd save with a perfect ninth, capped when Aarom Baldiris wrestled a hard smash to the turf and threw to
first for the final out.
Lions ace Hideaki Wakui (8-12) couldn’t stop Seibu’s skid, which grew to four. He allowed five runs over seven innings and lost for a career-single-season-worst 12th time.
FIGHTERS 2, EAGLES 0
Masaru Takeda (11-11) worked 6.2 scoreless innings as Nippon Ham blanked Rakuten for its franchise-best-tying 21st single-season team shutout, equaling the 1961 club.
The victory, which came in part because of Atsunori Inaba’s RBI single in the first, also stopped a club-worst nine-game skid at Sapporo Dome.
HAWKS 8, MARINES 3
Friend of the JBW Podcast D.J. Houlton (17-6) worked seven shutout innings, scattering four hits and two walks with four Ks as SoftBank downed Lotte at the Q.
PL batting leader Seiichi Uchikawa had three hits and three RBIs, and Kenji Akashi had two hits, including a two-run homer, to lead the Hawks.
CENTRAL LEAGUE
TIGERS 9, SWALLOWS 3
Akihito Fujii led a 14-hit attack with three hits and three RBIs, and Craig Brazell bashed the game’s only longball as Hanshin pummeled Yakult at Kyocera Dome Osaka.
The loss shrunk the Swallows’ lead to 1 game over Chunichi.
BAYSTARS 4, GIANTS 1
Yuki Kuniyoshi (1-3), who started out on the instructional squad, worked seven innings, allowing a run on six hits and fanning seven as Yokohama topped Yomiuri at The Big Egg.
Kuniyoshi is the club’s first former instructional squad pitcher -- the third overall -- to win a game, making a three-run homer from Kazuya Fujita in the second stand up. Norihito Nakamura also played in his 2,000th game.
DRAGONS 6, CARP 4
Kazuhiro Wada celebrated playing in his 1,500th game with three hits and two RBIs -- including an RBI single in the sixth that pulled Chunichi even, and Ryosuke Hirata tripled in the go-ahead runs as the Dragons topped Hiroshima at home.