The Chiba Lotte Marines sewed up the final Pacific League playoff spot on Sunday with a 5-3 win over the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters.
With 29,693 fans packing QVC Marine Field, Saburo Omura's two-run single overturned a 3-2, third-inning deficit and a five-man relief tag-team kept the Fighters off the board over the final six innings.
The Fighters opened the scoring with two runs in the second off starter Ayumu Ishikawa, who allowed three runs on six hits and a walk in 2⅔ innings. One-out singles by the veteran tandem of Kazuya Fukuura and Omura set the table for a sac fly from Shogo Nakamura in the home half of the second.