Takeya Nakamura brought the Seibu Lions from behind on Saturday with a two-run home run in a 2-1 win over the Chiba Lotte Marines.

With the Lions trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the sixth, Nakamura belted his third home run of the season to make a winner out of submarine right-hander Kazuhisa Makita (2-0) and a loser out of former teammate Hideaki Wakui.

After not getting a hit in his previous three games, Nakamura was asked if he was worried about his batting.

“Yes. I was really distressed,” he joked. “My timing hasn’t been bad, but if anything, I’ve tried to overpower my swings a bit and tightened up. I had one easy swing today but the rest were lame.”

In a duel between Opening Day starters, Wakui (2-1) put together his third straight strong start of the season, allowing two runs on two hits with three walks over seven innings. The former Lions ace struck out five.

“He (Wakui) is an amazing pitcher,” Nakamura said. “He worked really carefully and hit his spots.”

Makita, who overcame a shaky start to last seven innings, gave up a run on four singles and two walks while striking out four.

“I wasn’t thinking about that (facing Wakui) at all,” said Makita, who also posted his third strong start.

The Lions entered the game having scored one run in their previous two games and Makita said that makes the pitcher’s job a little tougher.

“It’s easy to put extra pressure on yourself,” he said. “But I just try to think of it in terms of keeping them from scoring, and if they do score find a way to shut them down after that.”

Before 22,729 at Saitama Prefecture’s Seibu Prince Dome, the Marines scored in the top of the first, when Kazuya Fukuura’s two-out single off Makita plated Daichi Suzuki from third. Suzuki had reached on a one-out single that first baseman Ernesto Mejia failed to come up with. A walk and a groundout put runners on the corners for Fukuura, who flared a 3-2 fastball into center to make it 1-0.

Although Makita continued to work deep in counts, he was able to pitch out of danger and keep the game close until his teammates gave him the lead in the bottom of the sixth.

“Today we figured out they were just waiting for my fastball,” Makita said. “So after that I adjusted and threw more breaking balls in the zone.”

In the seventh, Wakui walked Hideto Asamura with one out and five-time Pacific League home-run king Nakamura drilled a high 1-0 slider over the fence in left-center.

Going to the mound in the seventh with his first lead of the game, Makita walked the leadoff man, but two straight botched sacrifice bunts and a foul fly out allowed the Lions to put the game in the bullpen’s hands.

Setup man Tatsushi Masuda struck out two in a 1-2-3 eighth to record his fifth hold, while lefty closer Tomomi Takahashi survived a one-out single in the ninth to nail down his fifth save.

Hawks 4, Fighters 2

At Kamoike Stadium, Akira Nakamura’s fourth-inning game-tying RBI single snapped the team’s 37-inning scoreless drought and Fukuoka Softbank took advantage of back-to-back errors in a three-run seventh en route to ending Hokkaido Nippon Ham’s seven-game win streak.

Eagles 3, Buffaloes 3 (12)

At Kobo Stadium Miyagi, Orix reliever Tomoyuki Kaida threw three scoreless innings to secure a tie after Tohoku Rakuten overcame a two-run deficit in the ninth to force extra innings.

CENTRAL LEAGUE

Carp 7, Tigers 2

At Koshien Stadium, Hiroki Kuroda (2-1) allowed two runs in six innings and singled in a run in a four-run sixth as Hiroshima handed Hanshin its sixth straight loss en route its third win in a row.

BayStars 8, Dragons 6

At Nagoya Dome, Jose Lopez went 4-for-4 with two home runs, a walk and three RBIs to power Yokohama past Chunichi and into first place in the Central League.