Can’t ignore the roar …
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Lions hold off M’s, push winning streak to 9 straight
The Seibu Lions are roaring toward third place and the rest of the Pacific League can’t ignore the sound.
Takeya “Okawari-kun” Nakamura singled in the seventh inning to break a tie and the Lions extended their longest winning streak in since 2002, taking their ninth straight with a 5-4 win over the Lotte Marines at The Q on Monday.
The victory, the fourth straight for the Lions over the last-place Marines, moved Seibu to within three games of the Orix Buffaloes for the third and final Climax Series playoff spot.
Hiroyuki Nakajima, who had an RBI double in the fourth, was plunked for the second time in the game to reach first in the seventh. He stole second and cruised home on Nakamura’s single to center.
“I just wanted to get a hit there since Nakajima got on base and stole second to get into scoring position,” Nakamura, the PL leader in RBIs with 102, said during the hero interview.
“We’ve got a winning streak, but we can’t afford to lose. We want to keep on winning.”
The Lions staked Kazuhisa Ishii to a 4-0 cushion with two runs in the first two innings and a pair of scores in the fourth, but the veteran lefty couldn’t protect the lead. In fact, he got the early hook from skipper Hisanobu Watanabe with the bases loaded and no outs in the fifth.
Atsushi Okamoto (3-1) came on and gave up a two-run single to Toshiaki Imae that tied the score, but got the next three batters in order to earn the win.