TOKOROZAWA, Saitama Pref. – Hiroyuki Kobayashi pitched eight-plus strong innings and Toshiaki Imae drove in three runs as the Chiba Lotte Marines beat Daisuke Matsuzaka and the Seibu Lions 9-1 for their fifth straight victory Wednesday.
Lotte broke a scoreless tie when Imae blooped an RBI single to right in the fourth inning and made it 3-0 in the fifth on a run-scoring triple by Tsuyoshi Nishioka and an RBI grounder from Kazuya Fukuura at Invoice Seibu Dome.
Imae, who stretched his hitting streak to a club record 22 games, added a two-run double to cap a four-run seventh that also featured a solo homer by Val Pascucci and a Nishioka RBI double.
Kobayashi (11-5) allowed four hits and walked one and left after giving up a solo homer to Yoshihito Ishii in the ninth. Matsuzaka (9-12) was rocked for six runs on eight hits and two walks in 6 1/3 innings while striking out six.
Fighters 4, Eagles 1
At Tokyo Dome, right-hander Satoru Kanemura threw seven shutout innings as Hokkaido Nippon Ham sent last-place Tohoku Rakuten to its eighth consecutive loss.
PACIFIC LEAGUE
Swallows 15, Carp 8
At Hiroshima Stadium, Adam Riggs homered twice to drive in four runs and Shinya Miyamoto hit a grand slam to shut the door on the Carp in the eighth inning as Yakult snapped a three-game skid in a 31-hit slugfest.
Riggs homered in back-to-back at-bats, a solo and three-run blast, to help Yakult take a 7-2 lead through the third.
Tigers 3, BayStars 0
At Osaka Dome, Shinobu Fukuhara pitched 6 2/3 scoreless innings to win his second consecutive start and combined with three relievers on a four-hitter as league-leading Hanshin blanked Yokohama.
Dragons 5, Giants 1
At Nagoya Dome, Alex Ochoa and Kazuki Inoue both went deep to drive in five runs, helping to make a winner of Kenta Asakura, who picked up his second complete-game victory of the season.
Buffaloes 3, Hawks 3 (12)
League leader Softbank failed to preserve a two-run lead and was held to a 12-inning tie by Orix in a game that featured 13 pitchers and 19 hits.
Jolbert Cabrera broke a 1-1 tie with a two-run homer in sixth inning but Orix came back on an eighth-inning two-run double by Cliff Brumbaugh, sending the game into extra innings.
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