TOKOROZAWA, Saitama Pref. — The sleeping lions finally woke up and swallowed the ham.
Seibu started an assault from early on and veteran lefty Kazuhisa Ishii delivered one of his best performances of 2008 to power the Lions to an overwhelming 9-4 win over the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters in Game 4 of the second stage of the Pacific League Climax Series at Seibu Dome on Tuesday.
With the clear-cut victory, the Lions, the regular-season champions who have a one-win advantage in the series, now take a 3-2 series lead, pulling within one win from clinching a spot in the Japan Series.