Kazuhiro Hatakeyama broke a 2-2 tie with a two-run, fourth-inning single and the Tokyo Yakult Swallows held off the Yomiuri Giants for a 5-3 win on Wednesday.
Yakult starter Yasuhiro "Ryan" Ogawa (10-6) allowed three runs on nine hits and a walk over seven innings to earn the victory as the second-place Swallows moved within win-percentage points of the Central League-leading Hanshin Tigers.
Tony Barnette pitched the ninth for Swallows to earn his 33rd save.
BayStars 3, Dragons 2
At Nagoya Dome, 41-year-old Daisuke Miura (5-5) allowed one run in five innings and Yokohama scored three runs, two earned, off Chunichi's Yudai Ono (11-8), with Jose Lopez driving in two runs with a single in the sixth.
Carp 5, Tigers 1
At Nishinomiya's Koshien Stadium, Kenta Maeda (11-7) allowed one run over seven innings, and Hiroshima broke open a 1-1 tie in the fifth on an RBI double by Ryosuke Kikuchi and a three-run homer by Brad Eldred in a win over league-leading Hanshin.
PACIFIC LEAGUE
Buffaloes 6, Eagles 3
At Sendai's Kobo Stadium Miyagi, Ryoichi Adachi went 3-for-4 with a home run and a double and drove in four runs to lead Orix to a come-from-behind win over Tohoku Rakuten.
Marines 4, Fighters 2
At Tokyo Dome, Katsuya Kakunaka set the tone with a two-run, first-inning home run off Shohei Otani (13-4), and Chiba Lotte's Ayumu Ishikawa (9-11) allowed two runs over seven innings to outduel Hokkaido Nippon Ham's flame-throwing ace.
Hawks 5, Lions 4