Gang green…

Matsunaka’s HR helps Hawks win 4th straight

The green is almost in the black.

Nobuhiko Matsunaka broke a tie with a solo blast in the seventh inning as the SoftBank Hawks beat the Orix Buffaloes 2-1 on Monday for their fourth straight victory in their VV Green uniforms.

The joy didn’t last that long for Matsunaka, who was deactivated after the game because he tore a leg muscle while running the bases on his homer, which he didn’t think would leave the park.

Terry Doyle tossed the minimum five innings, holding the Buffaloes to a run on four hits with two walks, a hit batter and five Ks in his first appearance since being acquired on June 18. Masahiko Morifuku completed a four-inning bullpen scoreless run with a perfect ninth for his 13th save.

The win put the Hawks, last year’s Japan Series champs, a game shy of .500, while the Buffaloes fell to a season-worst 13 games under.

Seiichi Uchikawa had two hits, including an RBI single in the third inning that put the fourth-place Hawks up 1-0, but SoftBank struggled to push home another run despite collecting 10 hits and a walk.

SoftBank’s Toru Hosokawa played in his 1,000th game.

MARINES 5, EAGLES 0

Yoshihisa Naruse (9-4) tossed his career 12th shutout, and Saburo Omura connected for a three-run homer [his sixth] to help Lotte snap a six-game skid by blanking Rakuten at The Q.

Rookie Yoshinao Kamata (3-1) allowed his first homer and suffered his first pro loss in his ninth game.

LIONS 2, FIGHTERS 2

Seibu stoppoer Hideaki Wakui came on with none out and the bases loaded, and got a strikeout and two groundouts from Nippon Ham as the time limit ended action in a draw at Sapporo Dome.

CENTRAL LEAGUE

GIANTS 2, TIGERS 0

Edgar Gonzalez smacked his third homer, a two-run shot in the second inning, and Tetsuya Utsumi (8-6) worked 7.2 shutout frames as Yomiuri blanked Hanshin at Koshien Stadium.

CARP 3, DRAGONS 0

Kan Otake (8-2) handcuffed Chunichi on four hits and two walks with three Ks over eight innings and knocked in a run with an RBI grounder, while Jun Hirose had a two-run single in the first as Hiroshima blanked the Dragons at Mazda Stadium.

The Carp have won four straight and got to .500 and are 10-2 in July.

BAYSTARS 7, SWALLOWS 5

Takehiro Ishikawa’s tiebreaking two-run homer [his third hit of the game and first longball since Aug. 28, 2009] in the sixth gave Yokohama the lead, and five relievers combined to toss five scoreless innings as the host BayStars outslugged Yakult.