Wladimir Balentien had a magical night, hitting three home runs and driving in eight runs to power the Tokyo Yakult Swallows in a 12-4 rout of the Chunichi Dragons on Wednesday.
Balentien hit a two-run blast off Chunichi starter Kazuki Yoshimi (5-3) to get the offense rolling in the second inning and tacked on an RBI double in the third. He added a three-run drive and two-run shot in the sixth and eighth, respectively.
All of Yakult’s starting nine had at least a hit in an 18-hit onslaught at Jingu Stadium. Masanori Ishikawa (6-6) gave up four runs over eight innings but got plenty of run support.
Tony Blanco hit a two-run shot for Chunichi, but the Dragons dropped their fourth in a row.
BayStars 4, Giants 3
At Yokohama Stadium, Daisuke Miura (7-4) yielded three runs on seven hits over seven innings en route to notching his 150th career win as the BayStars held off Yomiuri.
Norihiro Nakamura and Alex Ramirez had back-to-back RBI hits off Tetsuya Utsumi (7-6) as Yokohama rallied to tie it in the third and Sho Aranami broke a 3-3 tie with an RBI double in the fifth. The CL-leading Giants had their five-game win streak snapped.
Carp 3, Tigers 1
PACIFIC LEAGUE
Buffaloes 5, Fighters 1
At Osaka’s Kyocera Dome, Yuki Nishi (5-2) allowed one run and four hits over seven strong innings, and Orix built an early lead to hold off Kazuhito Tadano (4-2) and Nippon Ham.
Lee Dae Ho opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly in the first inning and had an RBI single in the fifth. Hikaru Ito and Mitsutaka Goto, who extended his hitting streak to 12 games, also hit sac flies.
Marines 3, Eagles 2
At Chiba’s QVC Marine Field, Yoshihisa Naruse threw two-run ball over seven gritty innings and became the winningest pitcher in the PL with his eighth victory in Chiba Lotte’s decision over Tohoku Rakuten.
Tomoya Satozaki hit a game-tying leadoff homer in the third inning and Tadahito Iguchi added an RBI single in the sixth. Rakuten squandered a one-out, bases-loaded opportunity in the sixth and was denied its fourth win in a row.
Lions 7, Hawks 2
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