The Rakuten Eagles clinched the best record in interleague play for the first time in the club's 20-year history with a 5-3 win over the Hiroshima Carp on Sunday.
The Eagles earned 30 million yen ($192,000) for finishing with a 13-5 win-loss record, one game ahead of the SoftBank Hawks, who lost 4-1 to the Hanshin Tigers the same day.
A pair of run-scoring errors by Carp infielders gave the Eagles a 3-0 lead in the second inning. Daichi Suzuki's two-run homer made it 5-0 in the third before Hiroshima's late rally came up short at Rakuten Mobile Park Miyagi.
Rakuten's Hayato Yuge (1-0) won in relief. Hiroshima starter Makoto Aduwa (5-2) took the loss.
At Mizuho PayPay Dome in Fukuoka, Hanshin's Ukyo Maegawa hit a grand slam in the first inning and Hiroto Saiki (8-1) threw seven innings of one-run ball against SoftBank for his Japanese baseball-leading eighth win.
In other action, the DeNA BayStars extended their winning streak to seven games with a 5-0 shutout of the struggling Seibu Lions, who have lost four in a row.
