Makoto Kaneko drove in the winning run with a two-out single in the bottom of the 11th inning as Hokkaido Nippon Ham won its third straight game, edging the Chiba Lotte Marines, 6-5 in 11 innings, and staying hot on the heels of the Seibu Lions.
Nippon Ham's Makoto Kaneko, center, celebrates with teammates after hitting an 11th-inning walkoff single against the Marines at Sapporo Dome on Sunday. The Fighters beat Chiba Lotte 6-5.
KYODO PHOTOKaneko delivered his game-ending hit to center off Masahide Kobayashi (5-2) to score Tsuyoshi Shinjo, who had reached on a leadoff single and advanced to second on a Yuji Iiyama sacrifice bunt at Sapporo Dome.
An eighth-inning RBI single by Saburo Omura tied the game at 5-5 for Lotte and sent the game into extra innings after both teams exchanged leads in the middle innings. Hichori Morimoto went 6-for-6 with an RBI for the Fighters, while Koichi Hori homered for the Marines.