Ties that bind …
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Some rights reserved.
The Pacific League figures to play out a little like the Friday performance the Seibu Lions and Rakuten Eagles put on.
Seibu jumped out to a big lead, but needed every inch of The Kleenex Box to crawl away with a 7-7 time-limit tie after blowing their advantage and a chance to distance themselves from the team right with them in the standings.
The third-place Lions, who got a run-saving play from Hiroyuki Nakajima at short in the ninth, gunned down the winning run at the plate to end the game and come away with a tie in a game they let slip away.
Takumi Kuriyama played Takero Okajima’s double to left -- that just stayed in the park after hitting high off the fence above the padding -- but overthrew Nakajima on the relay. Takuya Hara was in the right spot, grabbing the cut-off throw and firing to the plate where Ginjiro Sumitani blocked off Akihisa Makida. Sumitani absorbed the blow and was ruled to have made the tag to end the game.
However, replays showed Makida, whose RBI fielder’s choice roller to short tied the score, reached around Sumitani and touched the plate before he was tagged.
Right after taking a 7-2 lead, the Lions saw the Eagles rally for four runs in the sixth inning, and get even when Hideaki Wakui blew the save in the ninth.
“We put some hits together some hits in the ninth and it would have been nice to get that final run across the plate, but I’m glad we got even,” said Rakuten skipper Senichi Hoshino.
BUFFALOES 5, FIGHTERS 1
Keiji Obiki had three hits, including an RBI double and a two-run homer, and Aarom Baldiris added two hits and two RBIs as Orix downed Nippon Ham at Kyocera Dome Osaka.
Hayato Terahara (5-6) went 7.2 sharp innings, scattering seven hits with no walks and eight punchouts for the win.
MARINES 9, HAWKS 2
Yoshihisa Naruse (10-4) worked seven strong innings, and Josh Whitesell cracked his first homer since Aug. 14 [while with Yakut] to help the Marines batter SoftBank at The Q.
CENTRAL LEAGUE
GIANTS 4, CARP 0
Toshiya Sugiuchi (10-2) fanned 13 over eight one-hit innings, and Shinnosuke Abe had four hits and drove in two runs as Yomiuri won its fifth straight by blanking Hiroshima at The Zoom.
The four hits pushed Abe’s average to a Japan-best-tying .327 [tying Hiroyuki Nakajima] to help Sugiuchi even Hiroshima’s Kenta Maeda for the CL lead in wins.
SWALLOWS 9, DRAGONS 2
First-year import Orlando Roman (5-7) tossed his first complete game, and Wladimir Balentien homered and doubled twice while Kazuhiro Hatakeyama homered, doubled and singled for three RBIs each as Yakult cruised to improve to 4-1 at Nagoya Dome [8-3-1 overall] against Chunichi.
The Dragons have lost fewer than 10 games at their dome, but four have come to Yakult, which also got two RBIs from Ryuji Aikawa in stopping a four-game skid. Balentien drilled his Japan-best 26th homer with a man on in the first inning.
BAYSTARS 5, TIGERS 1
Kentaro Takasaki (4-7) fired eight innings of one-run ball, and Masaaki Koike hammered a three-run blast in the sixth to erase a one-run deficit as Yokohama came back to top slumping Hanshin at Koshien Stadium.
Takasaki surrendered nine hits and a walk, while fanning eight to send the Tigers to their sixth straight loss.
[Edited by: jgibson on Jul 27, 2012 11:57 PM]