The Orix Buffaloes moved top of the Pacific League in their final game of the regular season Monday as Yoshinobu Yamamoto capped his stellar year with a four-hit shutout of the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles in a 4-0 win.
Yamamoto (18-5) outpitched former New York Yankee Masahiro Tanaka (4-9) to lift the Buffaloes above their pennant rivals Chiba Lotte Marines, who were clobbered 15-7 by the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks but still have three games to play.
The Marines' magic number remained at three, and they need two wins and a tie from their remaining games to ensure their first pennant since 2005.