Ernesto Mejia once more had the last word against the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles on Monday, his three-run double lifting Seibu to a 5-3 win that lowered the Lions' magic number to clinch the Pacific League title to two.
The Lions, looking to win back-to-back PL titles for the first time since their 1997 and 1998 championships, have just two games remaining. The Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, who have three games left, trail Seibu by one game.
On Friday, Mejia's pinch-hit home run sank the Eagles at MetLife Dome in a 5-3 Lions win, and on Monday Mejia shattered a 2-2 tie in the eighth inning at the Eagles' Rakuten Seimei Park Miyagi.