Naruse dominates Giants, wins his 4th straight
Yoshihisa Naruse gave the streaking Yomiuri Giants a smackdown from the mound on Saturday.
The lefty shut the Giants out over 8.2 innings before yielding a two-run homer and then surrendering the mound to the closer. But a three-run blast by Saburo Omura was enough to carry the Lotte Marines to a 5-2 win at The Q.
The Pacific League-leading Marines snapped Yomiuri's 10-game winning streak, and Naruse won his fourth straight decision.
One of five hits Naruse allowed was Hisayoshi Chono's third longball -- with a man aboard -- and he fanned seven with no walks before Yasuhiko Yabuta got the final out for his PL-best 14th save.
Naruse said Lotte had to rebound and represent after losing in the first game.
"We're the top team in the Pacific League so we had to step up," he said in the hero interview.
Omura, who has played most of his 17-plus seasons for Lotte, spent half of last season with Yomiuri after a trade. He returned to Lotte in the offseason and burned the Giants with his third homer.
Loser Hirokazu Sawamura (4-4) got the hook after five innings, allowing five runs on eight hits and a walk, while fanning just one.
DRAGONS 4, FIGHTERS 2
Motonobu Tanishige smacked a two-run double as Chunichi rallied for three runs in the fourth to knock off Nippon Ham at Sapporo Dome.
Soma Yamauchi (5-2) went six strong and Shinji Tajima worked 1.2 scoreless innings of relief to get to Hitoki Iwase, who notched his Japan-best 18th save.
LIONS 8, SWALLOWS 0
Fumiya Nishiguchi (3-1) fired eight shutout innings and Takeya Nakamura belted his 43rd interleague homer [second most in history] as Seibu blanked Yakult for the second straight game.
Hiroyuki Nakajima and Esteban German each had two hits and two RBIs as Seibu outscored Yakult 18-0 to sweep their two-game set.
BAYSTARS 8, EAGLES 1
Alex Ramirez broke out with three hits, including his fourth longball, and four RBIs as Yokohama cruised past Rakuten at The Kleenex Box.
Kentaro Takasaki (2-4) tossed seven innings, holding Rakuten to a run while pitching around eight hits and a walk with two Ks.
BUFFALOES 2, CARP 0
Hayato Terahara (1-3) went seven scoreless frames, and Takayoshi Kawabata and Aarom Baldiris provided the offense with an RBI each as host Orix blanked Hiroshima.
It was Terahara's first win since last Sept. 28.
TIGERS 1, HAWKS 1
Toru Hosokawa got SoftBank even with a fifth-inning RBI single that matched Hanshin’s RBI hit by Matt Murton as the teams played to a 3.5-hour time-limit draw at FYJ Dome.
Naruse dominates Giants, wins his 4th straight
Yoshihisa Naruse gave the streaking Yomiuri Giants a smackdown from the mound on Saturday.
The lefty shut the Giants out over 8.2 innings before yielding a two-run homer and then surrendering the mound to the closer. But a three-run blast by Saburo Omura was enough to carry the Lotte Marines to a 5-2 win at The Q.
The Pacific League-leading Marines snapped Yomiuri's 10-game winning streak, and Naruse won his fourth straight decision.
One of five hits Naruse allowed was Hisayoshi Chono's third longball -- with a man aboard -- and he fanned seven with no walks before Yasuhiko Yabuta got the final out for his PL-best 14th save.
Naruse said Lotte had to rebound and represent after losing in the first game.
"We're the top team in the Pacific League so we had to step up," he said in the hero interview.
Omura, who has played most of his 17-plus seasons for Lotte, spent half of last season with Yomiuri after a trade. He returned to Lotte in the offseason and burned the Giants with his third homer.
Loser Hirokazu Sawamura (4-4) got the hook after five innings, allowing five runs on eight hits and a walk, while fanning just one.
DRAGONS 4, FIGHTERS 2
Motonobu Tanishige smacked a two-run double as Chunichi rallied for three runs in the fourth to knock off Nippon Ham at Sapporo Dome.
Soma Yamauchi (5-2) went six strong and Shinji Tajima worked 1.2 scoreless innings of relief to get to Hitoki Iwase, who notched his Japan-best 18th save.
LIONS 8, SWALLOWS 0
Fumiya Nishiguchi (3-1) fired eight shutout innings and Takeya Nakamura belted his 43rd interleague homer [second most in history] as Seibu blanked Yakult for the second straight game.
Hiroyuki Nakajima and Esteban German each had two hits and two RBIs as Seibu outscored Yakult 18-0 to sweep their two-game set.
BAYSTARS 8, EAGLES 1
Alex Ramirez broke out with three hits, including his fourth longball, and four RBIs as Yokohama cruised past Rakuten at The Kleenex Box.
Kentaro Takasaki (2-4) tossed seven innings, holding Rakuten to a run while pitching around eight hits and a walk with two Ks.
BUFFALOES 2, CARP 0
Hayato Terahara (1-3) went seven scoreless frames, and Takayoshi Kawabata and Aarom Baldiris provided the offense with an RBI each as host Orix blanked Hiroshima.
It was Terahara's first win since last Sept. 28.
TIGERS 1, HAWKS 1
Toru Hosokawa got SoftBank even with a fifth-inning RBI single that matched Hanshin’s RBI hit by Matt Murton as the teams played to a 3.5-hour time-limit draw at FYJ Dome.