Rookie Yutaro Watanabe threw six scoreless innings, and Takeya Nakamura launched a two-run home run for the Seibu Lions, who survived a late rally to beat the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 6-5 on Sunday.
Watanabe (4-4) exited with the fifth-place Lions in command 6-0 at Rakuten Seimei Park Miyagi as he outdueled opposing starter Masahiro Tanaka (4-8), before a three-run blast from Tsuyoshi Yamasaki brought the Eagles back into the contest in the seventh.
A two-run rally in the final frame threatened to undo Watanabe's work before Ryosuke Moriwaki replaced Reed Garret with two outs and the bases loaded. The righty coaxed a flyout from Eigoro Mogi to end the game and prevent the third-place Eagles from extending their lead over the fourth-place Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks.