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Orix Buffaloes Top Seibu To Gain Playoff Berth

Published by admin on September 30, 2008

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

(x-clinched playoff spot, y-league champions)