The lowly Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles put the Seibu Lions' title celebrations on hold at least for one more day in dramatic fashion, and Jose Fernandez did the damage against his old team Tuesday.
Fernandez drove in seven runs in a 3-for-5 performance, highlighted by a ninth-inning grand slam, lifting the Eagles to a 10-7 win over the Lions, who nonetheless reduced their magic number to clinch the Pacific League pennant to one after the Orix Buffaloes' defeat.
Seibu was within two outs of clinching its first league title in four years when Fernandez lined the first pitch from Alex Graman (3-3) over the center-field wall for his second homer of the game, which followed a bases-loaded walk by pinch hitter Akihito Fujii.