Birds gone wild ...
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Some rights reserved.
The Yakult Swallows are flying like birds gone wild.
Shohei Tateyama fired a two-hitter for back-to-back shutouts, and Wladimir Balentien homered for the second straight night as the Swallows handed Yomiuri Giants prize rookie Hirokazu Sawamura his first pro loss and extended their winning streak to nine games with a 4-0 win on Thursday in Shizuoka.
It’s the longest winning streak for Yakult since it won 10 straight last season. The Central League-leading Swallows are six games over .500 for the first time since 2009, when they went to the CL Climax Series as the third-place team.
Tateyama, who struck out 10 and walked none while hitting a batter, recorded his ninth career shutout. It was the second time in his career he has notched back-to-back shutouts.
“I did what I could to get 27 outs,” the ninth-year righty said.
Balentien looks like a keeper. The first-year import bashed his CL-best-tying sixth longball of the season and second is as many nights, a solo shot in the sixth. He had a scoring flyball in the second and walked while striking out in his other at-bat to raise his average to.326.
Norichika Aoki had three hits off Sawamura (1-1), including an RBI single in the fifth, and Shinya Miyamoto drove in a run in the eighth.
Sawamura, who had a balk and an error, still has an ERA of just 1.71 in three starts. He worked into the eighth inning, allowing four runs -- three earned – to suffer the loss.
CARP 5, TIGERS 1
Tetsuya Kokubo’s RBI double in the third was the difference for Hiroshima as Junpei Shinoda (2-1) turned in seven innings of
five-hit ball to beat Hanshin at The Zoom.
The top three batters each had an RBI for Hiroshima, second behind Yakult in the standings.
Shinoda walked two and fanned one to win his second straight start.
DRAGONS 4, BAYSTARS 0
Kazuki Yoshimi (1-0) blanked Yokohama over six innings, and cleanup hitter Kazuhiro Wada finally went deep as Chunichi shut down the BayStars at Nagoya Dome.
Wada hit his first longball in his 48th at-bat, sending a shot
deep to left with a man on for a 2-0 lead.
PACIFIC LEAGUE
BUFFALOES 2, MARINES 1
Hirotoshi Kitagawa’s clutch RBI single in the top of the ninth lifted Orix past Lotte at The Q.
Orix pounded out 13 hits, but didn’t score until the seventh inning when Takahiro “T.O.” Okada singled in a run with two out to help Orix salvage the finale of a three-game set.
Alfredo Figaro loaded the bases with no outs in the first inning, but only gave up a run. He scattered four hits and three walks, while punching out seven.
[Edited by: jgibson on Apr 29, 2011 7:51 AM]