The Yomiuri Giants provided the fireworks in the opener and the Tokyo Yakult Swallows lit up the scoreboard in second game.

In the finale of the year's first three-game set between the crosstown rivals, they traded blows until only one was left standing.

That turned out to be Yakult, which got home runs from Norichika Aoki, Munetaka Murakami and Naomichi Nishiura, in addition to some big strikeouts from reliever David Huff, during an 11-6 win on Sunday afternoon at Tokyo Dome.