Mitsutaka Goto pitched eight shutout innings and Alex Cabrera hit a Pacific League-leading 40th homer Tuesday, lifting the Seibu Lions to a 6-0 victory over the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks.
WonLostTiedPct.GBYomiuri 64 39 1 .621 -Yakult 53 45 2 .541 8.5Hanshin 49 50 2 .495 13.0Chunichi 49 51 1 .490 13.5Hiroshima 45 49 4 .479 14.5Yokohama 34 60 2 .362 25.5Pacific League
WonLostTiedPct.GBSeibu 65 35 1 .650 -Kintetsu 52 45 2 .536 11.5Daiei 50 49 1 .505 14.5Nippon Ham 47 53 1 .470 18.0Lotte 43 54 1 .443 20.5Orix 38 59 2 .392 25.5
Kazuhiro Wada hit a solo homer in the fourth to open the scoring at the Seibu Dome before Cabrera connected off Brady Raggio (6-5) for a two-run homer in a three-run sixth as Seibu increased its lead to 4-0.
The Lions added insurance runs in the eighth on a two-run single by Tsutomu Ito and went on to win for the eighth time in nine games and widen the PL lead to 11 1/2 games over the Kintetsu Buffaloes.
Cabrera moved past Kintetsu outfielder Tuffy Rhodes, who currently has 39 homers, in the PL homer run race with his third homer in two days. Goto (5-1) limited Daiei to four hits with two walks and two strikeouts.
Marines 6, Buffaloes 1
In Sendai, homers from Kiyoshi Hatsushiba, Derrick May and Masaumi Shimizu powered Lotte to victory over second-place Kintetsu.
Nate Minchey (9-12) held Kintetsu to one run and four hits while striking out seven and walking one. Sean Bergman (4-6) took the loss after giving up five runs on six hits in 5 2/3 innings.
Seven of Lotte's eight hits were extra-base hits.
Fighters 3, BlueWave 0
At Green Stadium Kobe, Akio Shimizu (1-3) pitched a five-hitter with six strikeouts for his first complete game shutout in two years as Nippon Ham blanked Orix.
Nippon Ham went up 2-0 after three innings on RBI singles by Sherman Obando and Tsutomu Ishimoto off Ed Yarnall (6-11), who struck out 11 in 6 1/3 innings but received no run support.
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