Takeya Nakamura hit his Pacific League-leading 28th homer and Takayuki Kishi threw eight scoreless innings as the Seibu Lions beat the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters 3-0 on Monday for their third straight victory.
Nakamura connected off Masaru Takeda (6-4) for a two-run shot in the second inning, his fourth home run in three games, and Haruki Kurose brought home Seibu's third run with a squeeze bunt later in the frame at Seibu Dome.
Kishi (9-4) struck out nine and scattered six hits before Alex Graman closed out the game for his 22nd save. Seibu moved a season-high 15 games above .500 and extended its PL lead to six games over Nippon Ham.
Marines 4, Buffaloes 2
At Kyocera Dome in Osaka, Benny Agbayani broke a 1-1 tie with a bases-loaded triple in the fifth inning, leading Chiba Lotte over Orix.
Shunsuke Watanabe (10-4) gave up 11 hits but limited the Buffaloes to two runs over seven-plus innings. Tadahiro Ogino escaped a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the ninth for his 17th save.
Hawks 6, Eagles 2
At Yahoo Dome in Fukuoka, Takeshi Tsuji singled in two runs in a three-run first inning and Nobuhiro Matsuda added a solo homer in the third as Softbank beat Tohoku Rakuten.
Makoto Sato (1-1) threw 2 1/3 scoreless innings in relief. Rookie left-hander Kohei Hasebe (0-4) was pulled after giving up three runs in two-thirds of an inning.