Spreading their wings …

Eagles ravage Lions

The Rakuten Eagles did a good job of spreading their wings and overwhelming the Seibu Lions on Thursday. Now they just to spread the run scoring out a little better.

Kazuo Matsui homered, his sixth, and drove on five runs and pinch-hitter Toshiya Nakashima added a three-run homer in a six-run fourth inning as the Eagles routed the Lions 12-4 at The Kleenex Box.

Rakuten batted around in the fourth en route to its first double-digit scoring effort of the season.

The Eagles hadn't scored that many runs in an inning since last Sept. 4, and it was Matsui's first five-RBI game since Sept. 9, 2003.

Reliever Sinichiro Koyama (4-2) worked two scoreless innings after ineffective starter Takashi Kawai got the hook after the third inning. The baserunner Koyama allowed came on his own error. He didn’t give up a hit or a walk.

HAWKS 3, BUFFALOES 1

Yuichi Honda’s RBI infield single in the fifth broke a 1-1 tie, and Hitoshi Tamura had two hits and two RBIs as SoftBank topped host Orix to go 29 games over .500 for the first time in six seasons.

Nobuhiko Matsunaka had two hits, including a double, for the front-running Hawks.

MARINES 4, FIGHTERS 4

Sho Nakata’s two-run shot in the sixth got Nippon Ham close and Tomohiro Nioka’s RBI single even the score as the second-place Fighters and Lotte ended tied after nine innings.

CENTRAL LEAGUE

CARP 3, BAYSTARS 1

Rookie Yuya Fukui (5-6) went six strong innings and Hiroshima topped Yokohama for its fifth straight win to move into second place for the first time this last in the season since 1996.

Dennis Sarfate [friend of JBD] struck out the side in the ninth for his 26th save as Hiroshima won a franchise-record 11th straight game at Yokohama Stadium.

GIANTS 2, TIGERS 0

Tetsuya Utsumi (11-2) handcuffed Hanshin on four hits and a walk with 10 Ks over eight innings, and Alex Ramirez drew a bases-loaded walk to break up a scoreless struggle in the sixth as Yomiuri blanked the Tigers at The Big Egg.

Utsumi improved his winning percentage to a Japan-best .847 while knocking the Tigers into third place. Hanshin’s Tomoaki Kanemoto moved past Sadaharu Oh into sole possession of fourth place with his 423 double.

DRAGONS 2, SWALLOWS 1

Enyelbert Soto (3-0) lowered his ERA to 0.59 and has won his third straight start -- the latest by holding front-running Yakult to an unearned run over seven frames -- and Joel Guzman had two doubles and a single to improve to 8-for-10 against Shohei Tateyama (8-2) as Chunichi won at home.

Masahiko Morino’s groundout in the sixth inning was the difference, and Hitoki Iwase notched his 16th save with a scoreless ninth.