Shinjiro Hiyama led off the eighth inning with a tie-breaking solo homer and added a run in the ninth with another roundtripper as the front-running Hanshin Tigers whipped the Yakult Swallows 7-4 at Jingu Stadium on Friday.
The win, coupled with the loss of the second-place Giants, saw the Tigers widen their CL-lead to 10 games.
Tied 4-4 in the eighth, Hiyama solo homered off Yakult reliever Yuya Kamada (0-2) for the go-ahead run and after two outs, Makoto Imaoka hit an RBI single to put Hanshin up 6-4. In the ninth with two outs, Hiyama nailed a solo homer -- his sixth dinger of the year -- for an insurance run.