Tuffy Rhodes hit his 55th homer of the season to tie a 37-year-old record and Norihiro Nakamura capped a dramatic rally with a two-run shot Monday as the Kintetsu Buffaloes rallied to beat the Seibu Lions 7-6 to close in on the Pacific League title.
Central League WonLostTiedPct.GB Yakult 70 52 5 .574 - Yomiuri 74 59 2 .556 1.5 Hiroshima 59 60 7 .496 9.5 Yokohama 59 63 3 .484 11.0 Chunichi 59 66 4 .472 12.5 Hanshin 53 74 1 .417 19.5 Pacific League WonLostTiedPct.GB Kintetsu 75 58 2 .564 - Seibu 73 63 0 .537 3.5 Daiei 71 63 1 .530 4.5 Orix 66 63 4 .512 7.0 Lotte 62 69 2 .473 12.0 Nippon Ham 50 81 3 .382 24.0
Rhodes lined a Daisuke Matsuzaka fastball into the second deck of Osaka Dome's right-field stands in the fifth for his first homer in seven games, matching Japanese baseball's single-season home-run record set by Sadaharu Oh of the Yomiuri Giants in 1964.