A night after breaking out the bubbly to celebrate their first ever Pacific League title, the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles were understandably in need of a collective pick-me-up during a sluggish performance against the second-place Chiba Lotte Marines.

Left-hander Takahiro Matsunaga (4-1) allowed four hits and struck out six over six strong innings, Saburo Omura hit a two-run homer and Lotte walloped Rakuten 6-0 Friday night in Chiba.

The opening run scored in the fourth at QVC Marine Field.