Masahide Kaizuka and Toru Hosokawa drove home two runs apiece in a five-run rally in the sixth inning Tuesday as the Seibu Lions beat the slumping Chiba Lotte Marines 9-5 for their third straight victory in the Pacific League.
Seibu Lions starter Kazuyuki Hoashi delivers a pitch against the Chiba Lotte Marines at Chiba Marine Stadium.
With Seibu trailing 2-0, Kaizuka hit a no-out, game-tying double off former major leaguer Satoru Komiyama (0-2) before Hosokawa singled home two more runs to give the Lions the lead for good while handing Lotte its seventh loss in a row.
Hiroyuki Nakajima's first career grand slam made it 9-2 in the seventh and helped Kazuyuki Hoashi (2-1) earn the win.
League-leading Seibu has won nine of its last 10 games and is a half game ahead of the Daiei Hawks.
Hawks 2, Buffaloes 0
At Fukuoka Dome, Kenji Jojima broke a scoreless tie with an RBI single in the fourth inning and left-hander Lindsay Gulin (2-0) pitched seven shutout innings as Daiei sent Kintetsu to its third straight loss.
Fighters 10,BlueWave 1
At Sapporo Dome, Tsuyoshi Shinjo doubled and scored on an RBI single by Michihiro Ogasawara in the first inning to spark Nippon Ham's offense that snapped Orix's four-game winning steak.
CENTRAL LEAGUE
Carp 9, Tigers 6
At Koshien Stadium, Shigenobu Shima, Tomonori Maeda and Kenjiro Nomura combined for six runs on three hits apiece as Hiroshima came from behind to defeat Hideki Irabu and Hanshin.
Swallows 3, BayStars0
At Yokohama Stadium, Katsutoshi Ishido pitched a three-hitter over 7 1/3 effective innings and helped his own cause with a two-run single in a three-run second inning as Yakult shut out Yokohama and snapped a five-game losing skid.
Late game Dragons at Giants