The Sawamura show ...
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Some rights reserved.
Perhaps the jewel of last year’s draft, Hirokazu Sawamura, put on a show Thursday night at Koshien Stadium.
The right-hander picked up his first pro win in his second start, holding the Hanshin Tigers to a run over seven innings as the Yomiuri Giants took the rubber game of their three-game series in Hyogo with a 3-1 victory.
Sawamura walked two and scattered six hits, giving up his only run on an RBI double by Craig Brazell in the sixth inning. But he fanned Kenji Jojima and got a groundout from Shunsuke Fujikawa to escape further trouble and tossed a scoreless seventh.
“It was really fun to pitch like this in in front so many fans,” Sawamura (1-0) said after his second pro game.
Said Hanshin skipper Akinobu Mayumi: “We didn’t feel he was getting a lot of swings and misses with his fastball, but he really spotted his offspeed pitches.”
Alex Ramirez help the Giants climb near the top of the Central League standings with a two-run single in the sixth to break up a pitching duel. Last year’s top CL rookie, Hisayoshi Chono, had two hits, including an RBI double.
Three relievers closed it out for Sawamura, Levi Romero getting the final three outs for his second save.
CARP 11, BAYSTARS 8
Yoshihiro Maru cracked his second pro homer -- his first came on Tuesday -- and had a career day, going 4-for-5 with a double and three RBIs as the Carp won their sixth straight and secured the top CL spot for a second day.
Chad Tracy had three hits and two RBI for the Carp.
SWALLOWS 2, DRAGONS 0
Shohei Tateyama (1-0) improved to 12-5 against the Dragons since 2006, tossing a five-hitter to blank Chunichi at Jingu Stadium.
The Swallows only have five hits, but one of them was first-year import Wladimir Balentien’s second blast of the season and it came in the fourth with a man aboard to provide all the scoring.
Tateyama walked three and fanned three for his eighth career shutout.
PACIFIC LEAGUE
MARINES 7, LIONS 1
Shunsuke Watanabe (1-0) tossed two-hit ball over seven innings as Chiba Lotte swept Saitama Seibu in a three-game series at QVC Marine Field.
Yoshifumi Okada slapped a bases-clearing triple in a four-run seventh inning to put the game away, and Tadahito Iguchi had a single and a sacrifice fly to back Watanabe, who was pitching on four days’ rest.
The righty fanned three and walked none in a 2-hour 16-minute game, the fastest finish to a game since Oct. 10, 2009.
FIGHTERS 4, BUFFALOES 0
Sho Nakata stroked his first longball of the season and added a single, and Masaru Takeda (2-0) threw two-hit ball over seven innings as Hokkaido Nippon Ham blanked Orix for its fourth straight win.
The Buffaloes, who only mustered three hits, have dropped three straight.
HAWKS 8, EAGLES 3
Seiichi Uchikawa went 3-for-3 with a triple and four RBIs, and lefty Hiroki Yamada (2-0) won his second straight start for SoftBank, going seven innings and holding Rakuten to three runs for a win at Yahoo! Japan Dome.
The Hawks and Fighters are tied atop the PL.