Buffs say sayonara to losing streak ...

Walk-off HR by Okada stops B’s 8-game skid to Dragons

Takahiro T.O. Okada helped the Orix Buffaloes pull off a big comeback and take down the Chunichi Dragons -- finally.
Okada reached down and yanked a walk-off homer to right-center field for a 10-7 win in 11 innings on Wednesday, ending an eight-game interleague skid to their Nagoya neighbors.
The Buffaloes scored seven runs in the eighth inning, capped by a grand slam off the bat of Hirotoshi Kitagawa to tie the score at Skymark Stadium in Kobe.
Orix kept the Central League’s No. 3 team off the scoreboard until Okada, a fifth-year cleanup hitter, clubbed his 11th longball of the season.
The hit came after he failed to come through in the ninth inning when an intentional pass was given to No. 3 hitter Mitsutaka Goto.
“The at-bat before in the same situation was dreadful, when they walked the guy in front in me. They were playing shallow, so I thought it was over their heads, but it got and out and I’m glad,” Okada said.
The Dragons had beaten the Buffaloes, fourth in the Pacific League, every game since June 15, 2008. They took a 7-0 lead in this one, Motonobu Tanishige’s three-run homer in the top of the eighth gave them their seventh run to back Edward Valdez, who gave them six-plus shutout innings.
But the Dragons blew it. The Buffaloes evened it with six hits and two walks in the bottom of the frame.
After today’s action, the six PL teams are one-six in the interleague standings.

MARINES 8, GIANTS 1
Yomiuri stopped Lotte’s longest streak of shutout victories in 54 years, but that was all as Tsuyoshi Nishioka led a 15-hit attack with three knocks as the Marines wiped out the Giants a second straight night.
Tomoya Satozaki led four players with two hits by driving in two runs to back Yoshihisa Naruse (7-5), who tossed a five-hitter for his second complete game of the season.
The Marines have won eight straight at home.

LIONS 3, BAYSTARS 2
Seibu scored in three straight frames, the go-ahead run coming on a wild pitch by Hiroki Sanada (2-2) in the eighth as Yokohama fell at Seibu Dome.
Brian Sikorski notched his Japan-leading 18th save with a scoreless ninth.

HAWKS 6, SWALLOWS 1
Fukuoka had to deactivate slugger Hiroki Kokubo because of a bad shoulder, but Jose Ortiz and Nobuhiko Matsunaka each drove in a pair of runs in a win over struggling visiting Yakult.
Shinsuke Ogura (3-2) worked five-plus innings, limiting the Swallows to a run on five hits, two walks and a hit batter.

TIGERS 7, EAGLES 3
Takahiro Arai’s RBI single got Hanshin the lead and Kenji Jojima capped a five-run outburst with a three-run shot to beat Rakuten at the Kleenex Box.

FIGHTERS 2, CARP 2, 12 innings
Jun Hirose’s eighth-inning RBI double evened the score, and Nippon Ham couldn’t break the deadlock at Sapporo Dome.