George Arias, Kentaro Sekimoto and Kenichiro Hayakawa each homered to provide the fireworks as lefty Kei Igawa and the Hanshin Tigers defeated the Hiroshima Carp 4-1 on Tuesday night at Koshien Stadium, a day after clinching the Central League pennant for the first time in 18 years.
Igawa (17-5) went the distance, allowing just three hits while walking none, and retired the last 16 batters he faced.
BayStars 5, Swallows 1
At Yokohama Stadium, Tyrone Woods went deep twice to take the CL lead with his 36th homer as Yokohama outslugged Yakult.
Dragons 19, Giants 2
At Nagoya Dome, Chunichi scored 12 runs in the sixth inning to beat Yomiuri, which lost its ninth straight game for the first time in 28 years.
PACIFIC LEAGUE
Buffaloes 7, Hawks 6
At Osaka Dome, Kintetsu catcher Tetsuya Matoyama drove in the winning run on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth, leading the Buffs to a win over PL front-runner Daiei.
Lions 6, BlueWave 5
At Kobe's Yahoo BB Stadium, Tatsuya Ozeki singled home the go-ahead run in the eighth inning as Seibu edged Orix to move within three games of the Hawks.
Marines 16, Fighters 4