Nakamura's HR sinks Marines

Norihiro Nakamura belted a go-ahead two-run homer as the Kintetsu Buffaloes climbed into first place in the Pacific League with a 3-2 come-from-behind victory over the Lotte Marines at the Osaka Dome on Monday.

Trailing Lotte 2-1 in the seventh, second baseman Eiji Mizuguchi hit a single to left field with one out. Nakamura, last season's PL home run leader, then took Lotte reliever Atsushi Yoshida (0-1) into the left-field bleachers.

Hiroshi Ishige pitched 11/3 innings in relief and picked up the win, while Akinori Otsuka pitched a perfect ninth for his third save of the season.

Lions 6, Hawks 4

Newcomers Alex Cabrera and Scott McLain each homered and starter Takashi Ishii combined with four relievers on a six-hitter as Seibu beat Daiei at the Seibu Dome.

Both homers were off Daiei starter Junji Hoshino (0-1), who allowed four runs on five hits over two innings.

The defending PL champion Hawks skidded to their third straight loss.

Hawks outfielder Tony Mitchell, cousin of Kevin Mitchell, who briefly played for Daiei in 1995, hit a solo homer in the fifth inning.

Fighters 6, BlueWave 2

Ace Satoru Kanemura held Orix to two runs over 62/3 innings and picked up his first win as Nippon Ham won its third straight with a victory over the BlueWave at Kobe.

Nobuyuki Ebisu, who notched a PL-best ERA of 3.27 last year, allowed four runs, none earned, on six hits over three-plus innings for the loss.

Orix signs ex-Yankee

KOBE (Kyodo) The Orix BlueWave have acquired former New York Yankees left-hander Edward Yarnall as the Pacific League club's fifth foreign player for this season, Orix officials said Monday.

Yarnall is scheduled to arrive in Japan in mid-April.