Masahiko Morino broke a scoreless deadlock with a seventh-inning homer and veteran southpaw Masahiro Yamamoto pitched 6 2/3 effective innings Tuesday, lifting the first-place Chunichi Dragons to a 6-1 victory over the Hanshin Tigers for their fourth straight win.

Morino led off the seventh with a shot to center off Shinobu Fukuhara (1-3) before Masahiro Araki extended the lead to 2-0 with an RBI groundout one out later at Koshien Stadium.

Morino, who had singled and doubled earlier in the game, drew a bases-loaded walk in the eighth before Motonobu Tanishige added a sacrifice fly to give the Dragons a 4-0 lead.

Hiroyuki Watanabe capped the scoring with a two-run homer in the ninth as Chunichi took a two-game lead over Hanshin in the league standings with its seventh win in eight games.