Nobuyuki Ebisu (2-2) gave up five hits and struck out seven in six innings and Yoshitomo Tani blasted a two-run homer as the Orix BlueWave won their sixth straight game and took the Pacific League lead by defeating the Kintetsu Buffaloes 5-1 on Monday night at Green Stadium Kobe.

Central League
Won Lost Tied Pct. GB
Yomiuri 23 15 1 .605 -
Chunichi 21 17 1 .553 2.0
Yakult 17 16 2 .515 3.5
Hiroshima 17 16 2 .515 3.5
Hanshin 15 21 0 .417 7.0
Yokohama 13 21 0 .382 8.0
Pacific League
Won Lost Tied Pct. GB
Orix 22 15 3 .595 -
Daiei 23 17 0 .575 0.5
Kintetsu 20 20 1 .500 3.5
Seibu 20 20 0 .500 3.5
Lotte 18 20 2 .474 4.5
Nippon Ham 14 25 2 .359 9.0

With two out and runners at first and second, Takeshi Hidaka hit a triple and Koichi Oshima singled home Hidaka as Orix took an early 3-0 lead.

Ebisu surrendered a solo homer to Tuffy Rhodes in the fourth inning, but Tani homered in the sixth to put the game away.

Kintetsu starter Katsuhiko Maeda, who had won six games in a row after an 0-2 start, left the mound in the third inning and suffered his third loss of the season.

Fighters 9, Hawks 3

Nippon Ham finally found a way to win at home as starter Tsutomu Shimoyanagi (4-2) scattered four hits and struck out six over 72/3 innings to help the Fighters end their 10-game losing skid at the Tokyo Dome with a win over Daiei.

Tatsuya Ide hit a solo homer and Yukio Tanaka drilled a three-run shot in a four-run fifth inning.

Tadahito Iguchi cracked a three-run shot in the eighth inning for the Hawks, who fell into second place with the loss.

BayStars sign Sander

The Yokohama BayStars have formally acquired outfielder Anthony Sanders from the Seattle Mariners, officials of the Central League club said Monday.

Yokohama signed the 27-year-old Sanders, a member of the gold medal-winning U.S. baseball team at last year's Sydney Olympics, for a combined $350,000 in annual salary and signing bonus.

Sanders made the Mariners roster for Opening Day this season along with former Orix BlueWave star Ichiro Suzuki, but gathered only three hits in 17 at-bats before being sent down to Triple-A Tacoma. Sanders has hit .240 in 13 games in the major leagues.