JAPAN – Rookie outfielder Hiroyuki Oze executed a squeeze bunt to drive in the go-ahead run in the top of the 10th inning as the Orix Buffaloes clinched a spot in the postseason Climax Series with a 4-3 win over the Seibu Lions on Monday.
Oze laid down his bunt with one out after Tuffy Rhodes hit a leadoff double and Hirotoshi Kitagawa followed with a sacrifice bunt as the Buffaloes grabbed the second of three playoff spots on offer while handing the Pacific League champions their seventh loss in a row.
The win at Seibu Dome ensured the Buffaloes will finish second in the regular season.
Alex Cabrera hit a two-run homer in the first and Takeshi Hidaka had a solo shot that made it 3-1 in the top of the sixth for Orix. Seibu scored on an RBI double by Hiroyuki Nakajima in the first and back-to-back homers from Taketoshi Goto and Takeya Nakamura in the sixth.
Ryota Katsuki (4-0) pitched 2-2/3 scoreless innings for the win, while Koji Onuma (2-2) took the loss.
Fighters 2, Marines 1
At Sapporo Dome, Kensuke Tanaka drove in both runs and Yu Darvish earned a career-high 16th win as Nippon Ham ended Lotte’s four-game winning streak and climbed back into third place.
Tanaka hit a solo homer in the sixth inning and broke a 1-1 tie in the eighth with a fielder’s choice grounder to second, making a winner of Darvish (16-4), who struck out 12 in a complete-game effort to help send the Marines into fourth place.
Darvish allowed five hits, including a seventh-inning RBI double to Tasuku Hashimoto, and a walk in a duel with Hiroyuki Kobayashi (5-12) as the Fighters got a boost in their bid for a playoff berth.
Hawks 4, Eagles 2
At Kleenex Stadium, Nagisa Arakaki outpitched Hisashi Iwakuma and came within one out of his first complete game of the season as Softbank got out of the PL cellar with a win over Rakuten, which fell back into last place.
The Softbank offense backed Arakaki (3-6) by scoring four runs through five innings on a first-inning homer from Nobuhiro Matsuda and a Mitsuru Homma two-run double in the fifth. Arakaki gave up a two-out, two-run single to Masato Nakamura in the ninth after striking out 11 batters.
The Pacific League winningest pitcher Iwakuma (20-4) left after five innings and lost his first decision since July 13.
Pacific League
| Team | Won | Lost | Tie |
|---|---|---|---|
| y-Seibu | 75 | 63 | 04 |
| x-Orix | 74 | 68 | 01 |
| Nippon Ham | 72 | 69 | 02 |
| Lotte | 71 | 69 | 01 |
| Softbank | 63 | 73 | 03 |
| Rakuten | 61 | 72 | 03 |
Source: JapanBall.com
Tags: Japan