Pecking away …

Aoki’s crawler sneaks through infield, lifts Yakult

The Central League’s front-running Yakult Swallows aren’t blowing teams away, their pecking the rest of the Central League to death.

It was Norichika Aoki’s turn to be the hero on Wednesday night at The Zoom. He rolled a well-placed soft single that nearly came to a stop on the outfield grass to plate the go-ahead runs, capping a four-run eighth inning as the Swallows snuck past the Hiroshima Carp 7-6.

Shinya Miyamoto got the Swallows even with only his second homer of the season -- both have come against the Carp. He ripped a shot off the façade in left with Shingo Kawabata [who went 3-for-4] aboard in the eighth as the Swallows won their eighth straight.

A pair of walks and a single later, Aoki came through in his chance to put Yakult ahead.

“All the guys on the bench are all shouting, ‘Getting it to the next guy,’ and if feels like we’re all moving ahead together,” Aoki said during the hero interview. “Even in the batter’s box, it’s not like you’re in there alone. We’re all working together.”

The Swallows moved a season-best 16 games above .500, but Aoki said the team isn’t focused on that.

“We’re not worried about how many games we are above .500 or any of that, we’re just trying to go out and compete each game,” he said.

They needed seven pitchers to compete with Hiroshima on Wednesday, but it was the fourth man on the mound, Kosuke Matsui (2-0), who picked up the win. He only got one out, but it retired the side in the seventh after the Carp had taken a two-run lead.

Kazuhiro Hatakeyama hit a two-run homer and walked twice, while Lim Chang Yang nailed it down in the ninth for his 26th save for the Swallows.

TIGERS 3, DRAGONS 2

Matt Murton’s two-run single got Hanshin even in the sixth and Takashi Toritani plated the go-ahead run with a sac fly in the eighth as the Tigers edged Chunichi at Koshien Stadium.

GIANTS 6, BAYSTARS 2

Hayato Sakamoto went 4-for-4 with an RBI, and rookie Hirokazu Sawamura (7-11) fired seven scoreless innings and drove a run with in his first pro extra-base hit as Yomiuri cruised at Yokohama.

PACIFIC LEAGUE

EAGLES 8, BUFFALOES 6

Kazuo Matsui drove home the go-ahead runs with an opposite-field, two-run double in the eighth inning as Rakuten evened its third-place mid-September showdown series with host Orix.

Seldom-used Akihisa Makida had three hits, including a two-run double and a two-run homer for a career-high four RBIs, and Darrell Rasner shut down the Buffaloes in the ninth for his 13th save.

Orix's Mitsutaka Goto extended his hitting streak to 25 games, tying him for sixth on the all-time hit-streak list, while Aarom Baldiris homered and double to drive in a career-best four.

LIONS 2, HAWKS 1

Takeya Nakamura drove in the game-tying run in the seventh with an RBI single, then blasted his Japan-best 40th longball in the ninth as Seibu topped SoftBank for the second straight night.

Ace Hideaki Wakui (7-11) went the distance -- putting the first two runners on in the ninth before retiring the side -- for his fifth complete game this season.

FIGHTERS 2, MARINES 1

Eiichi Koyano’s two-run single in the sixth gave Nippon Ham the lead and Masaru Takeda (10-9) and two relievers held off Lotte for the Fighters’ 10th straight win at Tokyo Dome.

Takeda allowed a run on eight hits, a walk and a hit batter for his first win since Aug. 13, and Hisashi Takeda posted his first save since Aug. 27.