Shohei Tateyama threw a two-hitter for his second consecutive shutout, leading the Tokyo Yakult Swallows to a 4-0 victory over the Yomiuri Giants on Thursday night.
Yakult is now unbeaten in 11 games, winning nine and tying two games.
Tateyama (2-0) outpitched highly touted rookie Hirokazu Sawamura (1-1), striking out 10 and walking none at Kusanagi Stadium.
"It's a pleasant surprise I threw a shutout again," Tateyama said. "I wanted to keep the team's momentum going. (Catcher Ryoji) Aikawa-san collected a lot of data on our opponents over the last two days. I made good use of it tonight."
Wladimir Balentien opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly in the second inning and added a solo home run in the sixth. Three-time Central League batting champion Norichika Aoki went 3-for-3 with an RBI.
Sawamura gave up four runs, three earned, and eight hits in 7 1/3 innings.
Carp 5, Tigers 1
At Hiroshima's Mazda Stadium, Jumpei Shinoda (2-1) pitched seven innings of one-run ball as Hiroshima sent Hanshin to its third straight loss.
Takahiro Iwamoto, who batted cleanup for the first time in his career, singled in the Carp's opening run in the first inning off Minoru Iwata (0-3). Kenji Johjima went 3-for-4 with a solo home run for Hanshin.
Dragons 4, BayStars 0
At Nagoya Dome, Kazuhiro Wada hit his first homer of the season and Kazuki Yoshimi (1-0) threw six shutout innings as Chunichi completed a three-game sweep of Yokohama.
The 2010 CL MVP's two-run shot came against Yota Kosugi (0-1) and gave the Dragons a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning. The BayStars have lost eight of their last nine games.