A day after their pennant aspirations were crushed, the Seibu Lions clinched a spot in the Pacific League playoffs on Wednesday with a 4-2 win over the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles.
Rookie right-hander Ken Togame (6-0) made his starting debut after 39 relief appearances and allowed two runs on seven hits in six-plus innings in a game that saw the Lions turn five double plays.
Takeya Nakamura homered for the Lions in the second off 18-year-old rookie Yoshinao Kamata (7-4). Togame, the Lions' first draft pick last autumn, got out of a two-one, one-out jam in the home half of the second, when he started an inning-ending double play on a comebacker.