NISHINOMIYA, Hyogo Pref. – Makoto Imaoka hit a bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 11th inning as the Central League-leading Hanshin Tigers beat the Yomiuri Giants 4-3 on Friday.
Makoto Imaoka of the Tigers celebrates with his teammates after hitting a game-endingsacrifice fly in the bottom of the 11th inning to lift Hanshin past the Yomiuri Giants 4-3 on
Friday at Koshien Stadium.
Imaoka’s one-out fly ball to center off Yuya Kubo (3-2) scored Norihiro Akahoshi, who had reached on a leadoff single and took third on a Takashi Toritani sacrifice bunt and a single by Andy Sheets.
Kubo then intentionally walked Tomoaki Kanemoto to load the bases, only to allow the winning run for a dramatic ending to the game at Koshien Stadium. Tomoyuki Kubota (2-2) earned the win after pitching two scoreless innings.
Hanshin jumped to a 3-0 first-inning lead on Kanemoto’s double and a sacrifice fly by Shinjiro Hiyama off Koji Uehara.
Yomiuri rallied to tie the game in the fourth after Kazuhiro Kiyohara and Shinnosuke Abe hit back-to-back RBI singles, followed by a run-scoring double from Tomohiro Nioka.
Dragons 12, Carp 4
At Hiroshima Stadium, Kazuki Inoue homered twice on 3-for-5 hitting and drove in five runs, lifting Chunichi past the Carp.
Inoue hit a three-run homer in the second and added an RBI single in a two-run fourth that made it 5-2. The left fielder capped the scoring with a solo shot in the ninth following a three-run homer by Kosuke Fukudome.
PACIFIC LEAGUE
Hawks 5, Fighters 4
In Fukuoka, Nobuhiko Matsunaka hit a tiebreaking two-run homer and Tsuyoshi Wada pitched seven effective innings as Softbank stretched its winning streak to a season-high six games with a victory over Nippon Ham.
Matsunaka broke a 2-2 tie when he connected off Yusaku Iriki (3-3) for his Pacific League-leading 24th homer before Katsuhiko Miyaji capped a three-run sixth with an RBI single at Yahoo Dome.
Wada (8-4) won his fourth straight decision after allowing three runs on six hits and two walks while striking out four.
Nippon Ham took a 2-0 lead after two innings on an RBI double from Fernando Seguignol and a Yukio Tanaka solo homer. Michihiro Ogasawara homered in the eighth for the Fighters.
In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.
By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.