The Lotte Marines' Daiki Iwashita pitches during a Pacific League game against the Rakuten Eagles on July 5, 2021, at Zozo Marine Stadium in Chiba, east of Tokyo. (Kyodo)

       TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Seven strong innings from Daiki Iwashita and four solo home runs propelled the Lotte Marines to an 8-1 win over the Rakuten Eagles on Monday, moving them above their Pacific League rivals to joint second in the standings.

       Iwashita (7-4) won his third straight start, allowing his only run in the third inning to Ryosuke Tatsumi that briefly tied the game. The right-hander scattered four further hits and issued a walk, striking out five at Zozo Marine Stadium in a 90-pitch effort.

       His opposite number Naoto Nishiguchi (1-1) was charged with six runs, half of them home runs with Leonys Martin in the second, Yudai Fujioka in the third and Adeiny Hechavarria in the fourth all going deep.

       Tomoya Kakitani's two-run double and a Takashi Ogino RBI single chased the right-hander after 3-2/3 innings yielding six hits and two walks while striking out one in a 79-pitch outing.

       Brandon Laird had the last two RBIs, singling in one in the fifth before a solo shot in the seventh as Lotte won its third straight game. Rakuten, the early pacesetters in the PL, suffered its fifth straight defeat and dropped to fourth.

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