Tohoku Rakuten's Senichi Hoshino won his 1,000th career game as manager as the Eagles edged the Orix Buffaloes 3-2 for their third straight win Friday.
Hoshino, 65, is the 12th manager to accomplish the feat in Japanese baseball history and the first former pitcher to reach the milestone. In 15 years, he has 876 losses and 42 ties.
Former Nankai Hawks manager Kazuto Tsuruoka is the all-time leader with 1,773 wins.
Hoshino also managed the Chunichi Dragons over two different spells, winning the Central League twice in 1988 and 1999.
He won the pennant again in 2003 with the Hanshin Tigers and, after moving into the front office for several years due to health reasons, came back to manage Rakuten last year.
The Eagles were led at the plate at Kyocera Dome by Ryo Hijirisawa, who had four hits in five at-bats.
Rakuten scored twice in the opening frame, with ex-major leaguer Kazuo Matsui driving in the first run with a triple after Hijirisawa led off with a single. Jose Fernandez followed with a basehit to plate Matsui.
The Eagles added another run to make it 3-1 in the fifth. Orix pulled within one in the eighth on Lee Dae Ho's solo shot, the South Korean's fourth home run of the year, but Rakuten held on to make the evening a memorable one for its skipper.
Marines 6, Hawks 4
At QVC Marine Field, Tadahito Iguchi and Toshiaki Imae drove in two runs each as Lotte climbed into first place.
CENTRAL LEAGUE
Tigers 3, BayStars 1
At Yokohama Stadium, Atsushi Nomi (3-3) held DeNA to one run on five hits and a walk in 7⅔ innings as Hanshin rolled to its third straight victory.
Carp 1, Dragons 0
At Hiroshima's Mazda Stadium, Kan Otake (3-2) combined with two relievers for a six-hit shutout as Hiroshima beat Chunichi for the first time this season.
