Hiroyuki Kobayashi threw his second complete game of the season and Saburo Omura hit a tiebreaking solo homer as the Chiba Lotte Marines beat the Orix Buffaloes 5-1 on Monday.
Kobayashi (9-2) picked up his first win in four starts, striking out 10 and scattering nine hits with three walks and a hit batter at Chiba Marine Stadium. Lotte halted its losing streak at three games.
Omura homered to left off Hidetaka Kawagoe (3-6) to put Lotte ahead 2-1 leading off a four-run seventh inning.
Orix scored first on an RBI single by Tuffy Rhodes in the first but ended up stranding 12 baserunners. Jose Ortiz homered in the second for Lotte.
Hawks 4, Fighters 1
At Sapporo Dome, Brian Buchanan hit a tiebreaking two-run single and Tsuyoshi Wada pitched his second complete game win of the season as the Hawks beat Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters.
Buchanan snapped a 1-1 tie in the sixth inning when he singled to left with two outs and runners on second and third. Hitoshi Tamura doubled in an insurance run for Softbank in the seventh, chasing Ryan Glynn (8-4), who had won his previous seven decisions.
Wada (8-6) allowed six hits, walked two and struck out seven in a 130-pitch outing. Nobuhiko Matsunaka singled in the opening run in the top of the first. Atsunori Inaba answered right back in the bottom half with an RBI double for the Fighters.
Lions 4, Eagles 2
At Fullcast Stadium, Kazuhiro Wada singled in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning as Seibu rallied to beat Tohoku Rakuten.
CENTRAL LEAGUE
BayStars 8, Carp 2Swallows 7, Dragons 5Giants 4, Tigers 2