Kazuya Ojima pitched seven shutout innings as the Lotte Marines clinched a Pacific League Climax Series berth with a 5-0 win Tuesday over the Rakuten Eagles, who were eliminated from the playoff race at the final hurdle.
After a rain-out on Monday, the Marines and Eagles came into the rescheduled regular-season finale at Rakuten Mobile Park Miyagi placed third and fourth, respectively, with the winner set to advance to the playoffs and the loser packing for the offseason.
Lotte's victory lifted it to second place above the SoftBank Hawks, who will travel to Zozo Marine Stadium in Chiba for the PL Climax Series first stage starting Saturday.
Ojima (10-6) struck out three while allowing six hits and a walk. Following a 30-minute rain delay to the start of the game, the 27-year-old lefty pitched out of a two-out, bases-loaded in the first inning. He allowed a solitary hit in each of his next five frames before throwing a 1-2-3 seventh.
Hiromi Oka put the Marines on the board with his RBI single off Takahiro Norimoto (8-8) in the second. Hisanori Yasuda made it 2-0 with his solo home run in the fourth.
Takashi Ogino scored Yasuda with his single in the seventh before Toshiya Sato drove in two more insurance runs in the eighth.
With the PL home run crown on the line, neither Rakuten's Hideto Asamura nor Lotte's Gregory Polanco could add to their tallies and finished tied for the lead with SoftBank's Kensuke Kondo at 26.
