Right-hander Ken Togame pitched 7-2/3 strong innings and Takeya Nakamura went 2-for-4 with two RBIs in the Seibu Lions’ 5-2 win over the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters on Tuesday.

In front of a crowd of 27,749 at Sapporo Dome, Togame (5-6) struck out 10 hitters while allowing seven hits and two walks.

The Fighters started the day just one game behind the Pacific League-leading Lions. But Nippon Ham starter Naoyuki Uwasawa (7-3) struggled with his command, yielding five runs on 11 hits and a walk over six innings.

Nakamura put Seibu on the board in the second inning, hitting a two-run home run off righty Uwasawa. Sosuke Genda singled, stole second and scored on Hotaka Yamakawa’s RBI single in the next inning.

Seibu bagged two more runs with two outs in the fourth. Nakamura doubled and came home on a Shogo Akiyama single and Genda drove in another run. Uwasawa faced eight batters and needed 33 pitches to close the inning.

The Fighters rallied late and scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth.

Hawks 5, Eagles 2

At Aomori Prefecture’s Hirosaki Stadium, right-hander Kodai Senga (6-3) gave up two runs on four hits and two walks, while striking out six over 6-2/3 innings in Fukuoka SoftBank’s triumph over Tohoku Rakuten.

Tetsuro Nishida belted his first homer of the season, a fourth-inning solo shot off Yuri Furukawa (3-3).

Buffaloes 2, Marines 2 (12)

At Osaka’s Kyocera Dome, Stefen Romero’s two-run, sixth-inning homer off Chiba Lotte’s Ayumu Ishikawa enabled Orix to earn a tie.CENTRAL LEAGUE

Giants 6, BayStars 5

At Tokyo Dome, Daikan Yoh and Shingo Usami each knocked in two runs in Yomiuri’s four-run seventh inning as the Giants rallied to beat Yokohama.

Dragons 10, Tigers 5

At Koshien Stadium, Nobumasa Fukuda and Shuhei Takahashi drove in two runs in the first inning, and Shinnosuke Ogasawara (3-6) allowed three runs over 5-2/3 innings in Chunichi’s victory over Hanshin.

Swallows at Carp — ppd.