Lee's bat, Takahashi's defense carry Giants past Swallows

This season has been a struggle at times for Yomiuri Giants first baseman Lee Seung Yeop. The Korean slugger has been dropped out of the cleanup role, batted in the lower reaches of the Giants' batting order and endured a stint on the disabled list.

So with the Giants struggling it was fitting that it was Lee who came up with the big hit.

Hawks third baseman Hiroki Kokubo makes a diving stop of a grounder to start a double play in the sixth inning against the Golden Eagles at Fullcast Stadium on Friday. Softbank beat Tohoku Rakuten 3-1. KYODO PHOTO

He lined a single up the middle past Yakult starter Masanori Ishikawa to drive in the go-ahead run in the sixth inning as the Giants beat the Swallows 2-1 to snap a five-game losing streak in front of 45,471 mostly Giants fans at Tokyo Dome on Friday.

While Lee's RBI won the game, it was two plays by right fielder Yoshinobu Takahashi that helped secure it.

"I didn't hit well today so I'm happy I could contribute to our victory with good defense," Takahashi said, referring to a 1-for-4 night at the plate. "I hope I can do some hitting tomorrow."

With runners on first and second in the fourth inning of a 1-1 game, Yakult catcher Ryohei Kawamoto sent a well-hit ball into right. That drive likely would've driven in at least one run if not for a spectacular diving catch by Takahashi to end the inning.

The Swallows looked poised to erase a one-run deficit in the seventh before being foiled by Takahashi yet again. With a man on second, Yakult's Norichika Aoki drove a ball into the outfield. Looking to tie the game, Yasushi Iihara attempted to score from second only to be thrown out by a large margin at home by Takahashi.

Tetsuya Utsumi (11-5) gave up a run on eight hits and struck out five over seven solid innings to win his third consecutive decision. The 25-year-old lefty hasn't lost since dropping a 2-1 decision to Hanshin on July 10.

"I didn't think about our losing streak, but just tried to pitch my game and all my pitches were working well today," Utsumi said. "I have to thank Yoshinobu-san for his fine plays that saved the game for us."

Kiyoshi Toyoda struck out two in a perfect eighth and Koji Uehara worked the ninth to pick up his 22nd save of the season.

Utsumi's performance had to be a welcome sight for Yomiuri manager Tatsunori Hara. During its five-game losing streak the Giants' pitching staff had yielded four or more runs four times.

"We owe today's win to Takahashi's nice plays and Utsumi came up for us big," Hara said. "So we had a successful homecoming to the Tokyo Dome after that bad road trip."

The Giants continued to be a thorn in the side of Ishikawa (2-5), who took the loss after giving up both runs on 10 hits over six innings. Ishikawa entered the game with an 0-1 mark and a 13.50 ERA in two appearances against Yomiuri this season.

The Giants threatened to break open the game in the first behind four consecutive one-out hits that led to an early 1-0 advantage. Ishikawa kept the damage to the bare minimum however by getting Shinnosuke Abe to ground into a 3-6-1 inning-ending double play.

Ishikawa's efforts bore fruit in the bottom half of the inning when a Shinya Miyamoto single drove in Aaron Guiel to knot the game at 1-1.

Michihiro Ogasawara, who finished 3-for-4 with an RBI, and Tomohiro Nioka came through in the bottom of the sixth with consecutive one-out singles. Ogasawara scored the winning run later in the inning on Lee's timely hit.

Sakurai homers

KOBE (Kyodo) Kodai Sakurai broke a scoreless tie with a two-run homer off rookie right-hander Michito Miyazaki in the fourth inning as the Hanshin Tigers ended the Hiroshima Carp's winning streak at four games with a 3-1 victory on Friday.

A Takahiro Arai sacrifice fly pulled Hiroshima within a run in the sixth, but Hanshin pushed the lead back to two runs when Lin Wei-zhu hit a sac fly in the seventh.

Naohisa Sugiyama (4-4) allowed one run and five hits in six innings before Jeff Williams and Tomoyuki Kubota worked each of the next two innings. Kyuji Fujikawa closed out the ninth for his 31st save.

Dragons 6, BayStars 5

At Nagoya Dome, pinch hitter Motonobu Tanishige was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and no outs in the bottom of the ninth, giving Chunichi a "sayonara" victory.

PACIFIC LEAGUE

Lions 2, Buffaloes 1

At Goodwill Dome, Fumiya Nishiguchi deployed a deceptive change-up, yielding four hits in eight scoreless innings and Seibu escaped with a slim victory.

Nishiguchi (8-8) struck out seven and walked one batter en route to his 150th career win.

Fighter 5, Marines 0

At Sapporo Dome, Brian Sweeney pitched 7 1/3 shutout innings and the Hokkaido Nippon Ham bullpen held off Chiba Lotte.

It was the Fighters' eighth straight win and their 60th of the season.

Hawks 3, Eagles 1

At Sendai's Fullcast Stadium, Jason Standridge limited the damage to one run over six effective innings and Hidenori Tanoue had a tiebreaking two-run single in the third as Softbank downed Tohoku Rakuten, snapping a four-game losing skid.