SENDAI – Masahiro Araki, Hirokazu Ibata and Alex Ochoa combined for seven runs in a 12-hit offense Tuesday to power the Chunichi Dragons to a season-high fifth straight victory in a 9-1 triumph over the Rakuten Eagles in interleague play.
Chunichi rookie starter Yoshihiro Suzuki releases a pitch en route to earning his first careervictory as the Dragons beat the Rakuten Golden Eagles 9-1 Tuesday at Fullcast Stadium.
Rookie right-hander Yoshihiro Suzuki (1-0) won his first career start after he limited the damage to a run and five hits in 6 2/3 innings of work at Fullcast Stadium. He struck out six and walked one.
Koichi Sekikawa hit a pinch-hit RBI single in the third for the Eagles’ sole run. The Eagles wasted a two-out, two-on opportunity in the seventh and Kevin Hodges (2-7) took the loss after he gave up four runs through the seventh.
BayStars 2, Fighters 0
At Yokohama Stadium, Tatsuhiko Kinjo, who entered the game with a Central League-leading .460 average with runners in scoring position, singled home the opening run off Ken Kamakura (3-3) in the first inning and Masaaki Koike hit an RBI sacrifice fly in the seventh as the BayStars blanked Nippon Ham.
Ken Kadokura (4-2) yielded just three hits in his first complete game shutout in five years. He struck out eight of the 32 batters he faced and walked just two without allowing a runner past second base.
Carp 5, Hawks 2
At Muscat Stadium, Keiji Fukui, Koichi Ogata and Tomonori Maeda all homered off Toshiya Sugiuchi (8-2) and denied the lefty a fourth win in as many starts as Hiroshima came from behind to beat Softbank, snapping the team’s losing skid after five games.
Marines 2, Giants 1
At Chiba Marine Stadium, Hiroyuki Kobayashi (8-2) outdueled Koji Uehara (4-5) to win his sixth consecutive decision as Lotte edged Yomiuri and sent the visitors to their third loss in a row. Kobayashi held the Giants to a run and six hits while striking out seven over seven innings.
Tigers 4, Buffaloes 2
Akihiro Yano and Atsushi Fujimoto had back-to-back RBI hits with two out in the sixth inning as Hanshin handed Orix its first loss in four games at Skymark Stadium.
Swallows 7, Lions 3
At Invoice Seibu Dome, Noriyuki Shiroishi hit a two-run double in a three-run sixth inning and Alex Ramirez added another run in the seventh with his 17th homer of the season, lifting Yakult past Daisuke Matsuzaka and Seibu.
Watanabe takes over as team chairman
The Yomiuri Giants said Tuesday former team representative Tsuneo Watanabe will be appointed team chairman of the Central League club.
Watanabe, chairman of the Yomiuri Shimbun Group Honsha, will be formally appointed to the new post after as a stockholders’ meeting on June 23.
The 79-year-old Watanabe has not held a position in the team’s organization in nearly 10 months since resigning as the club representative to take the blame for the unethical scouting of former Meiji University pitcher Yasuhiro Ichiba.
Watanabe has made it clear that the club’s present owner Takuo Takihana, 65, will remain in charge and will have the final say on all matters in connection with Nippon Professional Baseball.
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