TOKOROZAWA, Saitama Pref. — The Saitama Seibu Lions failed to accomplish their goal of scoring early during the first game of the season.
Better late than never.
Hiroyuki Nakajima hit a tying homer to straightaway center in the seventh inning and Dee Brown followed suit with the go-ahead shot during the same frame to help the Lions edge the Chiba Lotte Marines 2-1 in the Pacific League opener in front of 33,331 fans on Saturday afternoon at Seibu Dome.