Shun Yamaguchi struck out eight over the distance to pitch the Yomiuri Giants to a 7-1 Central League win over the Tokyo Yakult Swallows on Saturday.
Yamaguchi (6-5) gave up six hits, walked one batter and hit one. He did not allow a run until the seventh inning, when Wladimir Balentien opened the inning with his CL-leading 17th home run. The loss was the third straight for the interleague champion Swallows.
Casey McGehee, who had four hits in Friday's win over the Swallows as league play resumed, broke the ice in the first inning against lefty David Huff (1-5). McGehee added a three-run, fifth-inning homer to put the game on ice.
Hayato Sakamoto opened the Giants' first with the first of his two doubles and scored on McGehee's one-out single, and Kazuma Okamoto led off the Giants' fourth at Tokyo Dome with his 13th home run to make it 2-0.
With one out in the fifth, Yamaguchi singled, Sakamoto doubled him to third and both scored on McGehee's sixth home run. The Giants completed their assault on the scoreboard in the sixth, when catcher Seiji Kobayashi singled in a run with one out, and Yamaguchi squeezed home a run.
Dragons 5, BayStars 3
At Nagoya Dome, Steven Moya's three-run, sixth-inning, pinch-hit double capped a four-run inning as Chunichi came from behind to beat Yokohama.
PACIFIC LEAGUE
Marines 4, Lions 3 (5)
At Zozo Marine Stadium, Seiya Inoue overturned a three-run deficit with a third-inning grand slam as Chiba Lotte came from behind to beat league-leading Seibu in a game that was called on account of rain after the top of the fifth inning.
Eagles 3, Fighters 2
At Rakuten Seimei Park Miyagi, Takayuki Kishi (7-1) allowed two runs in eight innings, and Toshiaki Imae broke a 2-2, fourth-inning tie with his fifth home run of the season.