Kiyoshi Hatsushiba helped put on hold the Daiei Hawks' title celebration for the second straight night as his tie-breaking homer lifted the Lotte Marines to a 5-4 victory over the Pacific League leaders on Friday at Chiba Marine Stadium.
Hatsushiba, who homered twice in Thursday's 8-5 win in the opener of a two-game series, drove in the go-ahead run with a solo homer off Junji Hoshino (3-6) in the sixth inning after Daiei came back from a four-run deficit at Chiba Marine Stadium.
The Daiei loss, coupled with the Seibu Lions' 5-1 win over the Orix BlueWave in Kobe, left the Hawks still needing one win -- or a Seibu loss -- to secure the Pacific League pennant.