Hisashi Iwakuma went the distance Saturday as the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles downed the Chiba Lotte Marines 5-2.
Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles outfielder Daisuke Masuda doubles home the winning run off Chiba Lotte Marines starter Shunsuke Watanabe in the seventh inning Saturday at Fullcast Stadium. The Eagles beat the Marines 5-2.
Iwakuma, who improved to 6-8 on the season, gave up two runs on six hits at Sendai’s Fullcast Stadium as the Eagles snapped a three-game skid.
Veteran Takeshi Yamasaki, who went 3-for-4 at the plate, doubled in a run in a four-run seventh inning and connected for a solo homer in the bottom of the eighth to lead the Rakuten offense.
Shunsuke Watanabe gave up five runs on 10 hits over 7 2/3 innings to take the loss for the Marines, who have struggled since finishing first in interleague play last month.
Lions 4, Hawks 0
At Invoice Seibu Dome, Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched his second complete-game shutout of the season as the Seibu Lions ended the Softbank Hawks’ 15-game winning streak.
Matsuzaka struck out 14 while allowing five hits with no walks.
Alex Cabrera hit a two-run homer off Tsuyoshi Wada to give Seibu a 2-0 lead in the fifth. He also had a run-scoring single in a two-run seventh.
Fighters at Buffaloes — ppd.
CENTRAL LEAGUE
Dragons 3, Tigers 2
At Nagoya Dome, Kazuyoshi Tatsunami connected for a solo homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift Chunichi to a walkoff victory over front-running Hanshin.
Kosuke Fukudome and Kazuki Inoue hit solo homers in the first and second innings before the Tigers’ Tomoaki Kanemoto tied the game with a solo shot of his own in the top of the third inning.
Carp 9, Giants 8
At Hiroshima Stadium, Takahiro Arai went 4-for-5 and drove in four runs to lead Hiroshima to a win over Yomiuri.
Arai hit his league-leading 24th homer in the bottom of the eighth to give the Carp a 7-6 lead. The Giants scored a pair of runs in the top of the ninth, but Arai drove in a pair of runs in the bottom of the ninth to seal the win.
BayStars vs. Swallows — ppd.
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