Sean Bergman tossed a four-hitter over the distance as the Kintetsu Buffaloes beat the Orix BlueWave 9-1 at the Osaka Dome to close to within 11/2 games on the Pacific League-leading Daiei Hawks, who were idle on Monday.
| Pacific League | |||||
| Won | Lost | Tied | Pct. | GB | |
| Daiei | 59 | 49 | 1 | .546 | - |
| Kintetsu | 57 | 50 | 2 | .533 | 1.5 |
| Seibu | 58 | 51 | 0 | .532 | 1.5 |
| Orix | 52 | 51 | 4 | .505 | 4.5 |
| Lotte | 50 | 54 | 2 | .481 | 7.0 |
| Nippon Ham | 42 | 63 | 3 | .400 | 15.5 |
Bergman walked one and struck out four en route to his sixth win of the year.
Orix starter Koo Dae Sung (3-8) took the loss, giving up six runs on four hits over 11/3 innings.
Lions 8, Fighters 2
Daisuke Matsuzaka held Nippon Ham to two runs over seven innings and three Lions homered as Seibu beat the Fighters at the Seibu Dome.
Matsuzaka (12-11) walked four and allowed two hits, including a two-run homer to Yukio Tanaka in the third inning, for the win.
Trailing Nippon ham 2-0 in the third, Kazuo Matsui, slugged a go-ahead three-run homer off Fighters lefty Kiyoshi Sasaki (1-5).
Alex Cabrera added two runs for the Lions with his PL-leading 43rd clout in the fifth inning.
Cabrera's homer tied the club record for most homers in a single season set by Koichi Tabuchi in 1980 and equaled by Koji Akiyama in 1987. It also beat Orestes Destrade's 42 homers in 1990 for the most homers in a season by a foreign player for Seibu.