Catcher Tomoya Satozaki connected for a grand slam in the bottom of the first inning Sunday to power the Pacific League-leading Chiba Lotte Marines to a 6-3 win over the Yokohama BayStars in an interleague game.
Tsuyoshi Nishioka and Lee Seung Yeop added solo homers in the second and third innings respectively at Chiba Marine Stadium as Bobby Valentine’s team won for the seventh time in their last eight games.
Chiba Lotte starter Shunsuke Watanabe improved to 8-1 on the season after giving up three runs on five hits over eight innings.
Tigers 9, Eagles 6
At Fullcast Stadium, Norihiro Akahoshi, Makoto Imaoka and Shinjiro Hiyama all drove in two runs each as Hanshin downed Rakuten, snapping the expansion team’s four-game winning streak.
Imaoka doubled in a run in the first when the Tigers jumped out to an early 3-0 lead against Eagles starter Hisashi Iwakuma, who gave up five runs on seven hits over four innings.
Swallows 7, Fighters 5
At Sapporo Dome, Alex Ramirez hit a three-run homer in the third inning and Ryuji Miyade added a two-run blast in the fourth for Yakult.
Swallows starter Shohei Tateyama picked up the win despite giving up five runs on six hits over 5 2/3 innings of work. Hirotoshi Ishii worked the final two innings for his 10th save of the season.
Dragons 4, Hawks 3
At Yahoo Dome, pinch-hitter Takayuki Onishi singled home the winning run in the top of the 10th for Chunichi.
Shinya Okamoto recorded the final two out in the ninth for the win. Closer Hitoki Iwase retired the side in the bottom of the 10th for the save as the Dragons took two out of three from Softbank for their first series win in interleague play.
Lions 2, Carp 1
At Invoice Seibu Dome, Takumi Kuriyama drove in the winning run with a single up the middle in the bottom of the 10th for Seibu.
Kiyoshi Toyoda picked up the win after holding Hiroshima scoreless over the final two innings.
Buffaloes 3, Giants 3 (12)
At Skymark Stadium, Mitsutaka Goto drove in the game-tying run in the bottom of the seventh.
Hiroki Kokubo hit a three-run homer in the first inning off the Buffaloes starter Jeremy Powell but that was all the scoring Yomiuri could do.
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