Shinnosuke Abe and Tomohiro Nioka both went deep and Hisanori Takahashi pitched seven strong innings as the Yomiuri Giants came from behind Wednesday to beat the first-place Hanshin Tigers 5-2 at Tokyo Dome.
After Hanshin went up 2-0 in the first, Abe connected off Shinobu Fukuhara (5-11) for a solo homer to cut the deficit in the bottom half, followed by Takahiro Suzuki’s RBI double and a two-run shot by Nioka to make it 4-2 in the third.
Takahashi (4-6) allowed two runs and five hits and struck out four with four walks in earning the win.
Tuffy Rhodes added a run-scoring double in the eighth to cap the scoring.
Carp 5, Swallows 4
At Jingu Stadium, Takahiro Arai hit a three-run homer off Hirotoshi Ishii (2-2) in the top of ninth inning to turn the game around as Hiroshima rallied from a three-run deficit to beat Yakult and snap a three game losing streak.
Hiroshima had three consecutive hits to close the gap to 4-2 before Arai delivered his 26th homer of the season to the left-field stands.
Dragons 2, BayStars 2 (12)
PACIFIC LEAGUE
Buffaloes 2, Hawks 0
At Osaka Dome, Jeremy Powell tossed a four-hit shutout while Karim Garcia and Masahiro Abe each drove in a run in the sixth inning as Orix blanked Softbank.
Powell (9-9) struck out three and walked one en route to his second shutout of the season, helping the Buffaloes snap a 10-game losing streak against the Hawks.
After an error by Tsuyoshi Wada (9-7) help put runners at the corners in the sixth, Garcia hit a sacrifice fly and Abe followed with a squeeze bunt to seal the victory.
Eagles 8, Fighters 3
At Fullcast Stadium, Takeshi Yamasaki drove in five runs and hit a grad slam to turn a close ballgame into a rout, and Gary Rath (3-6) used an effective change-up to limit the damage to two runs over six innings as Tohoku Rakuten beat Nippon Ham in a 24-hit slugfest.
Yamasaki opened the scoring with a RBI single in the first and after Rakuten went ahead 3-2 followed with his first grand slam in two years to give the Eagles a 7-2 lead in the fourth.
Lions 5, Marines 1
In Toyama, Fumikazu Takanami and Yasuyuki Kataoka drove in four runs between them to help make a winner of Daisuke Matsuzaka, who pitched seven scoreless innings as Seibu snapped a three-game losing streak with a victory over second-place Chiba Lotte.
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