HIROSHIMA – Sho Nakata homered twice and went 4-for-5 with five RBIs, powering the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters to a 9-1 rout over the Hiroshima Carp on Saturday.
Bobby Keppel (7-1) limited the damage to one run in six innings, striking out five with no walks. He retired the first 15 batters he faced. Giancarlo Alvarado (0-3) lasted just two innings.
Eiichi Koyano, the PL’s 2010 RBI leader who recently recovered from a hamstring injury, hit a three-run shot in a five-run eighth, which also featured Nakata’s second drive — a two-run blast at Mazda Stadium.
Giants 2, Lions 1
At Tokyo Dome, Tetsuya Utsumi struck out nine over the distance to win his seventh consecutive start, Hisayoshi Chono homered and Yomiuri snapped its losing streak at three games.
Utsumi (9-1), who leads Japanese baseball in wins, walked three in his second complete game of the season and helped his own cause with a run-scoring infield single in the fifth, which featured Chono’s leadoff shot off Hideaki Wakui (4-4).
Swallows 3, Marines 0
At Tokyo’s Jingu Stadium, Hiroyasu Tanaka laced a bases-clearing double in the second inning and Shohei Tateyama carried a shutout into the ninth, leading Tokyo Yakult to its third win in four games by beating Chiba Lotte.
Shinya Miyamoto led off the second inning with a single to right, Ryoji Aikawa followed with a one-out single to left and Norichika Aoki drew a walk to load the bases with two outs, setting the stage for Tanaka’s double.
Tateyama (6-1) scattered seven hits, struck out seven and walked none in 8⅓ innings. Lim Chang Yong inherited a two-on situation in the ninth and escaped the jam for his 14th save.
Shunsuke Watanabe (2-3) took the loss for the Marines.
BayStars 6, Hawks 4
At Yokohama Stadium, Terrmel Sledge hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the eighth inning, lifting Yokohama over Fukuoka Softbank.
Pinch hitter Norihito Nakamura, who joined Yokohama last month, belted a game-tying two-run drive in the seventh inning and Sledge connected off reliever Brian Falkenborg (0-1) — his 11th homer — with one out in the next frame for the lead.
Buffaloes 4, Dragons 0
At Nagoya Dome, Lee Seung Yeop went 4-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs, Shinya Nakayama (2-4) threw seven scoreless frames and Orix blanked Chunichi to return to .500.
Lee singled twice, hit a solo blast and had an RBI double, leaving him a triple shy of the cycle. Maximo Nelson (5-4) gave up two runs in five innings of the loss.
Eagles 2, Tigers 1 (6)
At Koshien Stadium, Kazuo Matsui hit a two-run homer in the first inning off Atsushi Nomi (3-5) and Tohoku Rakuten held off Hanshin in a game that had two rain delays before the contest was called in the sixth.
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