CHIBA – Toshiya Sugiuchi struck out 13 in 7 2/3 innings and Hiroki Kokubo hit a solo homer among his two hits as the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks beat the Chiba Lotte Marines 5-3 on Friday.
Sugiuchi (5-1) had a shutout until former teammate Tadahito Iguchi hit a three-run homer with two outs in the eighth inning at Chiba Marine Stadium. The left-hander allowed six hits and walked three en route to winning his third straight start.
Kokubo connected off Yuta Omine (2-1) to push Softbank’s lead to 2-0 in the third, his second home run in as many games. Nobuhiro Matsuda doubled in two runs to key a three-run sixth.
Eagles 11, Fighters 2
At Sendai’s Kleenex Stadium, Daisuke Kusano went 2-for-2 with a homer and four RBIs and Darrell Rasner threw his first complete game of the season as Tohoku Rakuten pounded out 15 hits to rout Hokkaido Nippon Ham.
Buffaloes 6, Lions 0
At Osaka’s Kyocera Dome, Chihiro Kaneko threw his second shutout of the season and Daisuke Maeda hit a grand slam, leading Orix over Saitama Seibu.
Kaneko (3-3) struck out 12, scattered six hits and walked one.
CENTRAL LEAGUE
Giants 10, Carp 4
At Tokyo Dome, Alex Ramirez and Hayato Sakamoto each homered and drove in five runs between them as Yomiuri romped over Hiroshima for its third win in a row.
Ramirez had a two-run drive in the first inning before the Carp tied it with runs in the third and fourth, respectively.
Tigers 7, Dragons 1
At Koshien Stadium, Kenji Johjima had a go-ahead two-run single in the fourth inning and Hanshin pulled away in a rout over Chunichi to win for the third time in four games.
After Johjima’s single to left made it 2-1, Takahiro Arai broke the game wide open with a bases-clearing double to key a five-run fifth among his three hits.
Swallows 4, BayStars 0
At Yokohama Stadium, rookie left-hander Masato Nakazawa threw a four-hitter in his first career shutout in Tokyo Yakult’s win against Yokohama.
Nakazawa (2-0) struck out five and walked two in a 108-pitch outing. He retired 16 in a row in one stretch.
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