Naomichi Nishiura and Domingo Santana delivered back-to-back solo house runs Tuesday for the Central League-leading Tokyo Yakult Swallows, chasing Yomiuri Giants starter Yuki Takahashi early in a 3-2 win.
Yakult starter Yasuhiro Ogawa (9-5) allowed two runs on six hits over six innings, placing out 5 and strolling none as he outperformed CL wins chief Takahashi (11-7) at Jingu Stadium.
The Swallows despatched Takahashi to the showers with none out within the backside of the fourth after Nishiura blasted his fourth house run deep to left and Santana launched No. 14 over proper for a 3-0 lead.
“As I used to be main off the inning, I wished to get on base it doesn’t matter what. With that in thoughts, I used to be capable of hit a house run,” Nishiura stated. “It felt good coming off the bat and fortunately it carried.”
Munetaka Murakami had given Yakult the lead within the third when he grounded out to attain Norichika Aoki from third.
Takumi Oshiro put the Giants on the board within the fifth with an RBI single and Hayato Sakamoto drove in one other run within the sixth, scoring Akihiro Wakabayashi from first with a double.
Relievers Ryuta Konno and Noboru Shimizu threw a scoreless inning every for Yakult earlier than nearer Scott McGough survived a nervous ninth for his twenty fifth save.
With two out and runners on second and third, the American right-hander collected an infield grounder from Zelous Wheeler and tagged him on the way in which to first to finish the sport.
The second-place Hanshin Tigers remained one sport again after cruising previous the Yokohama DeNA BayStars 5-2 at Yokohama Stadium.
At Vantelin Dome Nagoya, the Chunichi Dragons walked off with a 4-3 win over the Hiroshima Carp after Shuhei Takahashi drew a bases-loaded stroll from Yasunori Kikuchi within the backside of the ninth.
Within the Pacific League, the first-place Orix Buffaloes battered the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters 9-0, with Kotaro Kurebayashi, Yuma Mune and Steven Moya hitting house runs at Kyocera Dome Osaka.
At Zozo Marine Stadium, Chiba Lotte Marines starter Ayumu Ishikawa mixed with three relievers to clean the visiting Saitama Seibu Lions 2-0.
At PayPay Dome, the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks and Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles mixed for 25 hits, together with 5 house runs, in a seesaw 7-7 tie.
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