Katsumi Hirosawa and George Arias connected for two home runs each while four Hanshin pitchers combined on a seven-hit shutout as the Tigers whitewashed the Yomiuri Giants 11-0 at Koshien Stadium on Thursday.
Tigers manager Senichi Hoshino walks out of the dugout after winning game against the Yomiuri Giants 11-0.
Hanshin, which lowered its magic number to 15, took a 2-0 lead on Hirosawa’s two-run homer.
In the third, the 41-year-old veteran smashed a three-run clout and followup Arias nailed a solo homer to make it 6-0 for Hanshin.
All three home runs were off Yomiuri starter Kimiyasu Kudo (6-4), who yielded six hits while walking one over three innings.
Lefty Kei Igawa (16-5) tossed seven-hit ball over seven innings and picked up his CL-leading 16th win.
Carp 10, BayStars 6
At Yokohama Stadium, Andy Sheets had three hits and three RBIs for Hiroshima which sent the BayStars to their 80th loss of the season.
Down 1-0 in the second, Sheets nailed his 22nd homer of the year to tie the game, and the Carp went ahead with Yoshiyuki Ishihara’s three-run dinger.
Sheets and Tonori Maeda hit back-to-back RBI singles in the fifth.
Up 7-1 in the seventh, Yokohama scored four runs on two-run blasts by Takeshi Nakamura and Hitoshi Tamura — who went 3-for-4 with four RBIs — but the Carp added two runs in the eighth on Itsuki Asai’s pinch-hit two-run triple.
Masayuki Hasegawa (2-7) allowed three runs on seven hits over six-plus innings for the win while Toshikazu Sawazaki pitched the final two innings for his first save in four years.
Swallows 7, Dragons 1
Akinori Iwamura had two hits — including a two-run homer in the first inning — and drove home three runs as Yakult beat Chunichi at Jingu Stadium.
Kosuke Fukudome connected for a solo homer in the fourth inning — his 23rd clout of the year — for the Dragons’ only run.
Yoshii has surgery
KOBE (Kyodo) Orix BlueWave right-hander Masato Yoshii on Thursday had bone chips removed from his left wrist, officials of the Pacific League club said.
Club officials said the 38-year-old will be out of action for about a month before he can resume pitching.
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