Kenji Yano made his cameo appearance count with one swing of the bat and Edgar Gonzalez hit a two-run homer as the Yomiuri Giants beat the Chunichi Dragons 7-5 to take over first place in the Central League on Sunday.
The Giants swept their rivals in three games en route to their fifth consecutive win and moved one game ahead of the Dragons, who dropped their third game in a row.
"Today we were able to score in a very efficient way," said Giants manager Tatsunori Hara. "Beating this team in three straight games is a huge lift for us. Yano did a great job — nice batting."