Tuffy Rhodes belted his 22nd homer of the season in the first inning Tuesday and the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes racked up nine wins in a row for the first time in eight years with a 5-3 victory over the Chiba Lotte Marines.
Rhodes also scored in Kintetsu's three-run seventh inning at Chiba Marine Stadium as Norihiro Nakamura broke a 2-2 tie with an RBI single and Kenshi Kawaguchi followed with a two-run double for the Buffaloes.
Kintetsu right-hander Sean Bergman (3-1) held Lotte to three runs on six hits and a pair of walks over seven innings for the win, while Akira Okamoto gave up two hits in the ninth but held on for his 12th save of the season.
Hawks 2, Fighters 1
At the Fukuoka Dome, Hiroshi Shibahara singled with the bases loaded in the ninth inning to lift Daiei to a "sayonara" win over Nippon Ham.
D.T. Cromer hit a solo homer in the second inning for the Fighters.
BlueWave vs. Lions -- ppd.
CENTRAL LEAGUE
Dragons 8, Tigers 1
At the Nagoya Dome, Motonobu Tanishige hit a pair of solo homers and singled home two more runs to power Chunichi over front-running Hanshin.
Leo Gomez and Kazuyoshi Tatsunami each drove in a pair of runs for the Dragons as Chunichi posted its fifth win in seven games.
BayStars 10, Carp 2
At Hiroshima Stadium, Takanori Suzuki went 4-for-5 with a solo homer and four RBIs to pace last-place Yokohama over the Carp.