Pacific League home run leader Norihiro Nakamura, headed to the Sydney Olympics later this month, belted three homers in three straight at-bats to power the Kintetsu Buffaloes to a sixth straight win, 10-6 over the Orix BlueWave on Thursday in Kobe.
| Central League | |||||
| Won | Lost | Tied | Pct. | GB | |
| Yomiuri | 71 | 47 | 0 | .602 | - |
| Chunichi | 59 | 55 | 0 | .518 | 10.0 |
| Yokohama | 57 | 55 | 1 | .509 | 11.0 |
| Yakult | 50 | 56 | 1 | .472 | 15.0 |
| Hiroshima | 52 | 62 | 1 | .456 | 17.0 |
| Hanshin | 51 | 65 | 1 | .440 | 19.0 |
| Pacific League | |||||
| Won | Lost | Tied | Pct. | GB | |
| Daiei | 62 | 51 | 2 | .549 | - |
| Seibu | 59 | 51 | 5 | .536 | 1.5 |
| Nippon Ham | 60 | 55 | 1 | .522 | 3.0 |
| Orix | 52 | 58 | 3 | .473 | 8.5 |
| Lotte | 50 | 58 | 5 | .463 | 9.5 |
| Kintetsu | 52 | 62 | 2 | .456 | 10.5 |
Nakamura's three homers put him four in front of Nippon Ham Fighters slugger Nigel Wilson, 37 to 33, in the PL home run derby.
Lefty starter Katsuhiko Maekawa allowed four earned runs over 7 2/3 innings and got his eighth win, sending Orix to its sixth straight loss.
Marines 6, Lions 2
Pinch-hitter Mitsuchika Hirai hit a bases-loaded double in the sixth inning to cap a six-run uprising and lift Lotte over Seibu at Chiba Marine Stadium.
Seibu's loss dropped the Lions 1 1/2 games behind Daiei in the Pacific League standings on the eve of a crucial three-game series with the league-leading Hawks.
Lotte starter Tomohiro Kuroki (7-11), another member of the Japanese Olympic team, went the distance on 141 pitches for his fourth win in a row after a struggling through the first half of the season. Seibu lost five in a row for the first time in two years.
CENTRAL LEAGUE
BayStars 6, Dragons 2
Tatsuhiko Kinjo connected for a pair of singles to drive in three runs as Yokohama ended a three-game losing streak with a triumph over Chunichi at the Nagoya Dome.
The Yomiuri Giants, meanwhile, who did not play Thursday night, saw their "magic number" for clinching the CL pennant trimmed to 10 as the second-place Dragons fell 10 games behind the front-runners.
Swallows 7, Tigers 2
Roberto Petagine sparked a six-run outburst in the eighth inning with a two-run single and Yakult won its fifth in a row with a win over Hanshin.
Petagine was 3-for-3 with three runs batted in and Shinya Miyamoto capped the eighth-inning rally with a bases-loaded double that cleared the bases.
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