Fernando Seguignol and Yukio Tanaka homered and Cory Lee pitched six shutout innings Monday, leading the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters over the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 2-1 for their third straight victory.
The loss at Fullcast Stadium was the fourth straight for the Eagles, who are 2-20 in August, and ensured their last-place finish in the Pacific League in their inaugural season.
Seguignol led off the second with his 26th homer of the season and Tanaka made it 2-0 with his shot in the fifth before Rakuten cut the lead to one run on an RBI single by Yoshinori Okihara off Nippon Ham reliever Naoyuki Tateishi in the seventh.
Lee (3-3) allowed five hits and four walks while striking out four. Yoshinori Tateyama worked the ninth for the save.
Gary Rath (3-9) struck out five in 5 2/3 innings but gave up six hits, including both homers, in losing his third straight start.