Cats scratch one out …

Ishii’s homer and ugly 9th-inning rally lift Lions

Beset by injuries and struggling daily to fight off the competition, the Seibu Lions scratched out a win over the red-hot Nippon Ham Fighters on Wednesday.
Yoshihito Ishii slugged a pinch-hit solo homer in the seventh inning to tie the score, and a pair of hit batters, a single loaded the bases before an error gave the Lions a 3-2 walk-off win at Seibu Dome.
Playing in, second baseman Kensuke Tanaka couldn’t come up with Hisashi Takayama’s bases-loaded grounder cleanly to let the winning cross home, making the Pacific League’s front-running Lions the first team to 50 wins.
The Fighters, who had charged back into the PL’S top three after spending the first three months in last place, had won eight of 11 coming into the game. They fell back into fourth place.
They even took a 2-0 lead early, thanks to a scoring flyball ball Eiichi Koyano in the first and an RBI single from Tanaka in the second.
But Hiroshi Hirao doubled home a run in the third and Ishii’s homer got the Lions even. Their bullpen did the rest. Atsushi Okamoto worked 2.1 scoreless innings, Shuichiro Osada kept the Fighters off the scoreboard in the eighth and Brian Sikorski (1-2) loaded the bases with two out before escaping a ninth-inning jam to get the win.
The Lions stopped a four-game skid and are three games ahead of Lotte.

HAWKS 4, EAGLES 0
Hiroki Kokubo hit a solo shot and Hitoshi Tamura blasted a two-run job to back Shinsuke Ogura (4-5), who blanked host Rakuten on four hits over six innings for the win.
The Hawks moved a game ahead of the Fighters for sole possession of third in the PL.

BUFFALOES 5, MARINES 0
Chihiro Kaneko (7-7) fired his third straight shutout, a seven-hitter, as Orix blanked Lotte at a windy Chiba Marine Stadium.
It was the righty’s fifth shutout this season and he became the first PL pitcher to toss three straight shutouts in 15 years -- the first Orix pitcher to do it in 35 years.

CENTRAL LEAGUE
SWALLOWS 2, DRAGONS 1
Kyohei Muranaka (6-7) blanked host Chunichi over seven innings, and closer Lim Chang Yang escaped a no-out, bases-loaded jam in the ninth by allowing one run as Yakult topped the Dragons.

CARP 4, BAYSTARS 2
Giancarlo Alvarado (3-4) held Yokohama to a run over seven innings, scattering three hits with no walks and eight Ks as Hiroshima won on the road.

The Giants and Tigers were rained out.