Leslie Anderson homered, Miles Mikolas got his 11th win and also drove in two runs and the Yomiuri Giants defeated the Central League-leading Tokyo Yakult Swallows 6-3 on Friday in the series opener.
With one out in the top of the second inning, Anderson opened the scoring with a solo shot off Yasuhiro Ogawa (10-8), but Yuhei Takai tied the game in the bottom of the fourth, singling up the middle to drive in Kazuhiro Hatakeyama.
Soichiro Tateoka swung the game back in Yomiuri's favor with a two-run single in the fifth that made it 3-1, then Mikolas drove in two more runs in the sixth.