Naoyuki Shimizu pitched his first shutout of the season Thursday as the Chiba Lotte Marines beat the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 3-0 for their fourth win in a row.
Baystars infielder Takahiro Saeki (right) tries to score on a Takuro Ishii single but is tagged out by Tokyo Yakult catcher Ryohei Kawamoto in the second inning at Jingu Stadium on Thursday. The Swallows defeated Yokohama 3-1. KYODO PHOTOShimizu (6-10) held Tohoku Rakuten to four hits with three walks and three strikeouts in Pacific League action at Fullcast Stadium. Lin En-yu (1-3) was charged with three runs, two earned, and four hits in four innings.
Chiba Lotte took a 2-0 lead in the first as Kazuya Fukuura had an RBI single and Daisuke Hayakawa scored on a double-play grounder by Matt Watson. Naotaka Takehara made it 3-0 with a fourth-inning sacrifice fly.
CENTRAL LEAGUE
Swallows 3, BayStars 1
At Jingu Stadium, Alex Ramirez hit an infield single in the fifth inning to raising his season hits total to 200 in Yakult's win over Yokohama.
Ramirez joined Ichiro Suzuki and teammate Norichika Aoki as the only players in Japanese baseball history to reach 200 hits in a season after he hit a hard grounder off the glove of Yokohama third baseman Shuichi Murata. Ramirez was 1-for-4 on the night.
Adam Riggs gave Yakult a 1-0 lead in the first with an RBI infield single. In the fifth, Aaron Guiel followed Ramirez's hit with his 33rd home run, making it 3-0.
Rookie right-hander Tatsuyoshi Masubuchi (1-1) threw seven-plus shutout innings for the win. Shingo Takatsu picked up his 12th save.
Murata hit his 35th homer in the ninth, tying Chunichi Dragons first baseman Tyrone Woods and Yomiuri Giants outfielder Yoshinobu Takahashi for the Central League lead. Naoki Mitsuhashi (2-3) took the loss.
Dragons 3, Carp 2