Takeya Nakamura hit a tiebreaking homer leading off the ninth inning Saturday, lifting the Seibu Lions to a 2-1 win over the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles to send his team into the Pacific League Climax Series for the fourth year in a row.
With their sixth consecutive win, the Lions were assured of at least third place to grab the final playoff berth for a meeting against the Chiba Lotte Marines in the first stage of the Climax Series starting Oct. 12. The winner of the best-of-three series will play PL champion Rakuten in the final stage beginning Oct. 17.
Four-time PL home run king Nakamura, who has been limited to just 24 games this season after surgery on his left knee last fall, lofted a 1-1 fastball from Eagles rookie Takahiro Norimoto (14-8) over the wall in left-center for the decisive blow — just his fourth homer this year.