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Some rights reserved.
Takeda, Fighters KO Marines
Neither Nippon Ham nor the Lotte Marines could get anything going for eight innings, but the Fighters delivered a knockout blow in the ninth inning on Saturday.
Atsunori Inaba ignited a four-run rally with a bases-loaded single to the opposite field, and Masaru Takeda polished off his first shutout in two years by retiring the side in order in the ninth as the Fighters downed the Marines 4-0 at QVC Chiba Marine Field.
The soft-tossing Takeda fired a four-hitter, walking none and fanning four to earn his first win of the season. He needed only 104 pitches to hand the Marines their second straight loss after a 4-0 start.
Lotte’s Yuki Karakawa (1-1) took the loss, allowing six hits and two walks with a half-dozen Ks before departing with one out in the ninth.
HAWKS 4, LIONS 2
Wily Mo Pena’s scoring flyball in the seventh broke a tie, and Hiroki Kokubo had a homer and a double as late heroics lifted SoftBank got past Seibu for a second straight game at Seibu Dome.
Pena also had an RBI single in the fifth.
EAGLES 3, BUFFALOES 2
Kelvin Jimenez (1-1) scattered seven hits with no walks and five Ks over 7.2 innings, and Jose Fernandez drove in the tiebreaking run in the fifth with a clutch single as Rakuten took its second straight from Orix at Kyocera Dome Osaka.
Darrell Rasner set the side down in order in the ninth for his second save.
CENTRAL LEAGUE
CARP 1, BAYSTARS 0
Byran Bullington (1-1) fired eight scoreless innings and Dennis Sarfarte worked around a pair of hits in the ninth for his second save as Hiroshima sent Yokohama to its third straight shutout loss at home.
Yokohama’s Kentaro Takasaki carried a no-no into the seventh inning before Eishin Soyogi broke it up with a bloop single. Kazumasa Kikuchi (0-1) took the loss when Takayuki Shinohara walked Yoshikazu Kura with the bases loaded.
SWALLOWS 2, DRAGONS 1
Lastings Milledge ripped his first homer in Japan, and last year’s CL home run king Wladimir Balentien slugged a solo shot in the ninth inning as visiting Yakult handed Chunichi its first loss of the season.
Tony Barnette worked a scoreless ninth for his third save.
TIGERS 1, GIANTS 0
Jason Standridge (2-0) worked six scoreless innings, and Takahiro Arai drove in the only run with a first-inning RBI worm-killer to third as Hanshin sent reeling Yomiuri to its fifth straight defeat, and fourth shutout loss in five games.