Eiichi Koyano had a tiebreaking RBI single in the seventh inning as the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters edged the Chiba Lotte Marines 6-5 on Saturday.
Koyano delivered his second RBI single of the afternoon, breaking a 5-5 tie at Sapporo Dome. Shintaro Ejiri (1-0) won in relief while Yusuke Kawasaki (1-1) was charged with the loss. Hisashi Takeda picked up his Pacific League-leading 16th save.
Nippon Ham rallied for a 4-1 lead in a four-run third but a Tomoya Satozaki three-run homer tied the game in the fourth. Atsunori Inaba once again gave the Fighters the lead with a solo homer in fifth until Satozaki's single retied it in the sixth.
Lions 5, Buffaloes 4 (11)
Eagles 8, Hawks 2
CENTRAL LEAGUE
Dragons 2, Carp 1
At Nagoya Dome, Masahiko Morino singled to break a 1-1 tie and Kazuki Yoshimi threw one-run ball over seven innings as Chunichi beat Hiroshima.
Tony Blanco tied the game in the fifth with his CL-leading 25th home run and his second homer in as many games. An inning later, Morino singled off Kenta Maeda (5-8) to give Chunichi a 2-1 lead.
Yoshimi (9-3) allowed four hits and struck out six en route to lowering his ERA to a CL-leading 1.59. He also earned his league-high ninth win to tie Yakult Swallows pitcher Shohei Tateyama.
BayStars 4, Swallows 2
Giants 2, Tigers 2 (12)
