SAPPORO – Tomohiro Nioka hit a tiebreaking two-run homer and rookie Hirotoshi Masui threw one-run ball over 6 1/3 innings as the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters beat the Yomiuri Giants 3-1 on Wednesday.
Atsunori Inaba delivered a game-tying RBI double and Nioka followed with a shot over the left-field wall against his former team with two outs in the sixth inning at Sapporo Dome.
Naoki Miyanishi picked up his first career save. Kensuke Tanaka had two hits and two stolen bases for Nippon Ham, which has won three in a row and eight of its last nine.
Dicky Gonzalez (3-5) allowed three runs on six hits in six innings.
Lions 3, Swallows 2
At Saitama’s Seibu Dome, Yasuyuki Kataoka hit a walk-off double in the ninth inning as Seibu rallied to beat Tokyo Yakult for its fourth straight victory.
Hiroyuki Nakajima homered in the fourth to pull Seibu within 2-1 and the first of Kataoka’s two RBI doubles of the night tied the score in the seventh.
Kazuhisa Ishii (5-2) struck out 11 in his first complete game since May 6, 2008 and became the ninth pitcher in Japanese baseball history to defeat all 12 teams. Lim Chang Yong (0-1) took the loss.
Carp 8, Orix 2
At Osaka’s Kyocera Dome, Yoshiyuki Ishihara homered and drove in three runs, former Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander Eric Stults picked up his first win in Japan and Hiroshima downed Orix. Ishihara homered leading off the third inning for a 1-0 lead and added a two-run single off Satoshi Komatsu (2-2) in the fourth. Eishin Soyogi doubled in two runs in the sixth.
Marines 3, Dragons 1
At Chiba Marine Stadium, Bill Murphy outpitched Kazuki Yoshimi as Chiba Lotte completed a two-game sweep of Chunichi.
Murphy (2-0) walked seven batters but allowed just one run and one hit in six-plus innings.
Hawks 9, Tigers 3
At Fukuoka’s Yahoo Dome, Hitoshi Tamura hit a three-run homer and D.J. Houlton threw five scoreless innings as Softbank pounded out 16 hits to beat Hanshin.
Stults (1-3) allowed two runs and five hits in six innings, striking out eight without a walk.
BayStars 3, Eagles 2
At Sendai’s Kleenex Stadium, Kazuya Fujita drove in three runs and Tomokazu Ohka pitched six effective innings, leading Yokohama past Tohoku Rakuten.
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