Old reliable ...

Veteran delivers as Dragons hold off Tigers

Maximo Nelson has delivered for the Chunichi Dragons with three quality starts this season, but only had one win to show for it. His batterymate was determined not to let that happen again.

Motonobu Tanishige’s two-run homer in the seventh inning padded the lead and the Dragons went on to win 4-2 over the Hanshin Tigers at Koshien Stadium on Friday.

Nelson (2-1) scattered seven hits with no walks and three punchouts over seven innings to pick up the win. Tony Blanco gave him the lead with a sac fly in the fourth, and Kazuhiro Wada’s RBI single in the sixth made it 2-0.

Craig Brazell socked a solo shot off Nelson in the seventh, but that’s all the Dominican allowed.

Tanishige’s longball gave him dingers in 23 consecutive seasons, joining two others for second most all-time. It was his first homer since last July 17, and it gave the Dragons a 4-0 lead.
Set-up man Takuya Asao gave up three straight hits and a run before he got an out in the eighth, but escaped further damage with a pair of strikeouts, the last coming with the bases full.

“Last time out, Nelson threw a great game against the Giants but we couldn’t score,” said Tanishige. “He ended up giving up a homer in the ninth inning [the game’s only run] and losing, so I just wanted to make sure I did all I could to help him win today.

“The home runs every season are just because I’ve been able to play for 23 years.”

The Tigers deactivated veteran lefty Tsuyoshi Shimoynagi before the game.

SWALLOWS 6, BAYSTARS 4

Wladimir Balentien slammed three homers -- the first Yakult player to have three longballs in a game since Greg “The Hit Man” LaRocca in 2006 -- and drove in five runs in a win at Yokohama.

Balentien leads the league with 12 homers, and the Swallows have won seven straight games in which he has gone deep since April 21.

GIANTS 3, CARP 0

Alex Ramirez slugged his seventh longball and Ken Kato cracked his first homer in three years as Yomiuri handed Bryan Bullington (1-4) his first loss in Japan with a win at The Zoom.

Tetsuya Utsumi (4-1) worked 6.1 scoreless innings for the win, lowering his ERA to a Japan-leading 1.07.

PACIFIC LEAGUE

HAWKS 7, LIONS 3

Fourth-year righty Sho Iwasaki (1-1) held Seibu to two runs on three hits and four walks with four Ks over six innings to earn his first pro win in his 10th start as SoftBank topped the visiting Lions.

Toru Hosokawa, who moved to SoftBank in the offseason, tormented his former team with two hits, including a double, and two RBIs.

SoftBank earlier in the day deactivated righty Brian Falkenborg, reportedly because of elbow soreness.

MARINES 1, EAGLES 1

Maasahiro Tanaka fired 10 innings of one-run ball, and was taken off the hook for the loss when Rakuten scored the final run of a 12-inning draw on Takeshi Yamasaki’s fourth homer in the top of the ninth.

Yoshihisa Naruse scattered seven hits with 11 Ks and no walks, allowing only Yamasaki’s homer over nine innings.