All in line …

’Stars align to down Carp

Sometimes the ’Stars all align for Yokohama.

BayStars starter Kentaro Takasaki worked six scoreless innings and Yokohama enjoyed strong relief from four relievers to notch the team’s ninth shutout of the season, blanking the Hiroshima Carp 1-0 at The Zoom on Tuesday.

Takasaki yielded just two hits, while fanning five and walking three but got a no-decision. Shinji Ohara (3-1) got the win by retiring the lone batter he faced.

Hitoshi Fujie replaced him to start the seventh, and allowed a hit and nothing else. Closer Shun Yamaguchi got the final four outs to for his 24th save.

An eighth-inning scoring flyball by Tsuyoshi Kita pushed home the game’s only run.

The fifth-year infielder went 2-for-3, collecting his first extra-base hit with a double in the seventh inning and his first RBI with eighth-inning sac fly.

“I just focused on doing the best I can to do the same things up here as I did on the farm team,” said Kita, who had a hit in first at-bat. “That really helped me settle in.”

GIANTS 5, TIGERS 2

Alex Ramirez doubled in the go-ahead runs in the sixth, and Hayato Sakamoto singled in a pair in the eighth as Yomiuri knocked back Hanshin at Tokyo Dome.

The Giants lost Michihiro Ogasawara to a hit by pitch on the left wrist in the fifth, and starter Dicky Gonzalez limped off the field in the sixth. But they fought through to push Hanshin two games under .500.

SWALLOWS 2, DRAGONS 0

Wladimir Balentien’s infield double scored a run and Shingo Kawabata hit his third lifetime homer as Chunichi -- inventing silly ways to lose games -- fell at Jingu Stadium in their Japan-worst 18th shutout.

Masahiko Morino wasn’t able to catch Balentien’s two-out popup near the mound, and the Dragons failed to convert a first-and-third situation with no outs in the seventh as they fell to 2-9 vs. the front-running Swallows.


PACIFIC LEAGUE

HAWKS 8,-MARINES 1

Alex Cabrera had three hits, including two doubles, and drove in one, and Brian Houlton (13-5) extended his career-best win total as SoftBank pulled away late to top Lotte at FYJ Dome.

Houlton had a half-dozen Ks and scattered four hits over six innings.


EAGLES 6, FIGHTERS 2

Hisashi Iwakuma (5-3) celebrated reaching 1,500 innings pitched with six-plus strong frames, and three players had two hits and an RBI each as Rakuten won at Sapporo Dome.

Kauzuo Matsui, Ryo Hijirisawa and Motohiro Shima each had two hits and an RBI, and Yosuke Takasu added three hits for the Eagles.

LIONS 11, BUFFALOES 5

Ryan Mulhern had two hits and four RBIs, and Takumi Kuriyama had three hits, including a two-run homer, to lead Seibu past visiting Orix.

Hiroyuki Nakajima added three hits and RBI for the Lions.