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Eagles drop heavy loss on Lions

The Rakuten Eagles still see themselves as a playoff team. The Seibu Lions would like to see themselves atop the Pacific League standings.

The teams clashed at Seibu Dome on Wednesday night, and the Eagles saddled the Lions with a 3-2 loss.

Rakuten moved three games back of third-place SofBank for the final playoff spot after Brandon Duckworth (3-1) tossed 6.1 innings of two-run ball and Ginji Akaminai had a pair of RBI singles to help the Eagles keep their playoff hopes alive.

The loss dropped Seibu two games behind victorious Nippon Ham, and the Lions had only themselves to blame. Kazuo Matsui singled and went to third when a wild throw to second on his stolen-base attempt gave him the extra base with one out in the seventh.

He came home to score the go-ahead run when Kazuya Fujita rolled a soft single through a draw-in infield. The pen took over and Darrell Rasner worked a perfect eighth, while Koji Aoyama allowed a hit and nothing else for his single-season, club-record-tying 21st save.

Seibu’s Takeya Nakamura hit his league-leading 25th homer.

BUFFALOES 3, HAWKS 0

Third-year lefty Yuji Maeda (2-2) blanked SoftBank over five innings and Lee Dae Ho clubbed his first homer since Sept. 18 as Orix put an emphatic halt to its franchise-worst 12-game skid by shutting out SoftBank at Kyocera Dome Osaka.

Maeda, in just his fourth pro start, allowed four hits with two walks, and Yoshihisa Hirano worked two innings for his seventh save.

FIGHTERS 5, MARINES 2

Yang Zhong-shou broke a tie with a two-run single in the seventh and Yoshio Itoi followed with his second hit of the night, an RBI single, as Nippon Ham held off Lotte at Sapporo Dome.

The win helped the Fighters move two games ahead of second-place Seibu, and 4.5 in front of SoftBank after both their rivals lost.

CENTRAL LEAGUE

BAYSTARS 8, DRAGONS 2

Katsuhiko Kinjo’s three-run, pinch-hit homer highlighted a four-run eighth as Yokohama pulled away late and beat Chunichi at Nagoya Dome.

Alex Ramirez had two hits for the BayStars and is 13 shy of 2,000 with 12 games to play.

SWALLOWS 10, TIGERS 4

Yuhei Takai had four hits and scored a run, and Yuhei Nakamura had a bases-clearing double in the first as Yakult paddled Hanshin at Jingu Stadium.

Wladimir Balentien also had three hits and an RBI for the Swallows, who got a quality start from lefty Katsuki Akagawa (8-8).

CARP 4, GIANTS 0

Keisuke Imai (3-8) fired seven innings of shutout ball, holding CL-clinching Yomiuri to two hits and two walks with three Ks, and Brad Eldred homered twice as Hiroshima blanked the Giants at The Zoom.