Makoto Kaneko, Hiroshi Narahara and Pacific League batting leader Michihiro Ogasawara each drove in two runs and the Nippon Ham Fighters came from behind to defeat the Pacific League-leading Seibu Lions 9-3 Monday.
WonLostTiedPct.GBYomiuri 53 32 0 .624 -Hanshin 42 40 2 .512 9.5Yakult 41 40 1 .506 10.0Hiroshima 39 39 2 .500 10.5Chunichi 40 42 1 .488 11.5Yokohama 28 50 2 .359 21.5Pacific League
WonLostTiedPct.GBSeibu 52 29 1 .642 -Kintetsu 43 36 2 .544 8.0Daiei 40 40 1 .500 11.5Nippon Ham 39 42 1 .481 13.0Lotte 33 46 1 .418 18.0Orix 32 46 2 .410 18.5
Kaneko hit a two-run homer off Seibu starter Tetsuya Shiozaki (5-3) in the sixth inning with the Fighters down 2-1 at the Seibu Dome, turning the game around for the visitors before Nippon Ham added five more runs in the final frame to ensure victory.
Ogasawara pulled Nippon Ham to within one run on a solo shot -- his 24th homer of the season -- in the fourth inning and improved his league-leading average to .354.
BlueWave 2, Hawks 1
At Green Stadium Kobe, 10th-year right-hander Hisashi Ogura (2-1) combined with two relievers on a five-hitter and set the pace through the first six innings as Orix scraped past Daiei for a season-high fifth straight victory.
Kazuo Yamaguchi picked up his fifth save by pitching a hitless ninth and matched the Japanese record for heat set by Hideki Irabu in 1993 with a fastball clocked at 158 kph.
Marines 7, Buffaloes 5
At the Osaka Dome, Derrick May went 4-for-5 and drove in three runs, including the go-ahead run in Lotte's three-run seventh inning, as he Marines took a seesaw contest over slumping Kintetsu.
Surgery for Okubo
KOBE (Kyodo) The Pacific League's rookie of the year last season Masanobu Okubo of the Orix BlueWave underwent surgery for a hernia near his right leg and will require a month to recover, officials of the Pacific League club said Monday.