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3RD LD: F's clinch PL title with Rakuten's loss
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CHIBA, Japan, Oct. 6 (23:08) Kyodo
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(EDS: ADDING QUOTES FROM VALENTINE, NASHIDA)
The Nippon Ham Fighters clinched their third Pacific League
title in four years on Tuesday when the second-place Rakuten Eagles
lost to the Lotte Marines 5-2.
Toshiaki Imae broke a 2-2 tie with an RBI double and Tomoya
Satozaki added a two-run triple, both off Kazuo Fukumori (7-1), in a
three-run eighth inning at Chiba Marine Stadium.
Ryo Hijirisawa singled in two runs to give Rakuten a 2-0 lead in
the second. Saburo Omura led off the bottom of the inning with a
homer and Koichi Hori delivered a game-tying single in the third.
Tadahiro Ogino (3-3) got two outs in relief for the win.
Retiring 44-year-old right-hander Satoru Komiyama picked up his first
save in four years with one pitch.
After Lotte's last home game of the season, outgoing manager
Bobby Valentine made a speech in Japanese.
''I want to thank all of you that gave me such wonderful
memories. I will be a fan of the Chiba Lotte Marines from next
year,'' said the former New York Mets manager.
''I will always feel the marine breeze of Chiba in my face.
Cheering song of Lotte will always be played in my ear. The love of
the fans will always live in my heart. I will never forget the Chiba
Lotte Marines. I love you all.''
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Fighters 5, Lions 4, 12 innings
At Sapporo Dome, Makoto Kaneko finished his three RBI night with
a walk-off sacrifice fly in the 12th inning as Nippon Ham outlasted
Seibu after Rakuten's loss.
Kaneko hit a two-run homer in the fourth to extend Nippon Ham's
lead to 4-0 and a deep fly ball to center in the 12th off Fumiya
Nishiguchi (4-4) with one out and runners on second and third.
Nippon Ham was one out away from clinching the title before
Rakuten's game ended, but Yutaro Osaki delivered a pinch-hit, two-out
RBI single in the top of the ninth off Hisashi Takeda.
Yoshinori Tateyama (5-7) won in relief. Yasuyuki Kataoka drove
in three runs for Seibu.
''It was a tough season. We overcame an influenza scare and
injuries to some players,'' Nippon Ham manager Masataka Nashida said.
''Without any one of the team members, we couldn't win the league
title.''
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Buffaloes 2, Hawks 0
At Yahoo Dome, Kazuki Kondo (9-12) threw eight shutout innings
and Mitsutaka Goto hit an RBI single in the first inning as Orix
handed Softbank its fourth straight loss.
Orix added a run in the second on a throwing error by shortstop
Munenori Kawasaki. Chihiro Kaneko completed a five-hit shutout for
his fourth save.
Toshiya Sugiuchi (15-5) reached 200 strikeouts for the second
year in a row after fanning 11 to raise his season total to 204 in a
complete game effort.
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Central League
Swallows 10, BayStars 4
At Yokohama Stadium, Aaron Guiel hit a tiebreaking two-run homer
to key an eight-run eighth inning and Kazuki Fukuchi homered and had
four RBIs as Yakult rallied past Yokohama.
Norichika Aoki's two-run single tied the game at 4-4 before
Guiel followed with a drive to right off 46-year-old Kimiyasu Kudo
(2-3). Fukuchi added a three-run double in the big inning. |
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