Kintetsu's Norihiro Nakamura, seeking to capture a third successive Pacific League RBI crown for most RBIs in the season, went 0-for-2 on Thursday night as the Buffaloes bowed to the Lotte Marines 2-0 at Chiba Marine Stadium.
With one more game left in the regular season, Nakamura remained in a tie for second place with Seibu's Alex Cabrera on 115 RBIs -- two short of leader and teammate Tuffy Rhodes's 117.
Lotte pitchers Shingo Ono (5-8), Soichi Fujita, Hiroyuki Kobayashi and Masahide Kobayashi combined on five hits to whitewash Kintetsu. Closer Masahide Kobayashi got his 37th save.
Saburo Ohmura belted a solo homer in the first inning and Makoto Kosaka singled in a run in the second.