A long shot …

Tigers ride little Hirano, ‘Big Bro’ to victory

The low-impact ball was flying high at Tokyo Dome on Wednesday night.

Even if you expect a strong outing from Atsushi Nomi, who went eight innings of one-run ball, and a blast by Tomoaki Kanemoto, tiny Keiichi Hirano making a big difference with a longball isn’t something many people figured on happening.

Hirano went deep for the first time in a since Aug. 4 last year, a solo shot in the fourth, and Kanemoto [nicknamed Big Brother] connected for his eighth of the season to break a tie in the eighth inning as the Hanshin Tigers topped the Yomiuri Giants 2-1.

“It’s his first homer of the season and I’m sure even he was surprised at the way he hit that ball,” Hanshin skipper Akinobu Mayumi said about Hirano.

Nomi (7-7) stet the stage, though, with 11 punchouts and just four hits and three walks.

“I’m just really glad we were able to win,” said Nomi in the hero interview after winning his third straight decision. “I know they have a lot of data on me, but I just believed in my stuff and I didn’t want to lose the mental battle.”

Kanemoto, whose blast was his 466th, moving him into sole possession of 11th place on the all-time list, said Nomi inspired him.

“We don’t score when Nomi pitches, so I just felt like I had to do something to get him a run.”

Alex Ramirez cracked his 350th homer in 10-plus seasons in Japan, but the solo shot wasn’t enough to carry the Giants, who fell back to .500 with the loss. Ramirez is the 26th player to reach that milestone.

The Tigers moved a game under .500 in a log-jammed Central League.

Tetsuya Utsumi (12-4) was the loser, allowing just three hits, while fanning eight and walking two to lower his CL-leading ERA to 1.65.

“Our opponent didn’t miss the two mistakes Utsumi made,” Giants manager Tatsunori Hara said.

Hanshin deactivated Craig Brazell because of a bad hamstring, while Yomiuri’s Michihiro Ogasawara couldn’t even practice because of swelling on the left wrist he was plunked on during Tuesday’s game. He is day to day.

CARP 8, BAYSTARS 1

Kenta Kurihara blasted his 10th and 11th homers [his seventh and eighth in the past 22 days] and drove in five runs with a career-best-tying four hits as Hiroshima battered visiting Yokohama.

Bryan Bullington (12-7) scattered eight hits with no walks and three Ks over seven innings for the win.

DRAGONS 6, SWALLOWS 6

Chunichi scored a week’s worth of runs in one game, but Naomichi Donoue’s eighth-inning solo blast only earned them a tie with front-running Yakult at Jingu Stadium.


PACIFIC LEAGUE

HAWKS 6, MARINES 0

Nobuhiko Matsunaka’s three-run blast highlighted a six-run second inning, and Tsuyoshi Wada (11-4) tossed seven shutout innings as SoftBank topped Lotte at FYJ Dome.

Nobuhiro Matsuda ripped his career-best 19th homer, and Yuichi Honda had two hits and stole his Japan-best 42nd base.

EAGLES 5, FIGHTERS 2

Fuminori Yokogawa had two hits, including a two-run single in a four-run first, as Rakuten got out early and held off host Nippon Ham for its fourth straight win.

Darrell Rasner worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his sixth save as the Eagles won clinched their second straight series victory -- against the top two teams in the league.