Central focus …

Giants top Fighters, close in on interleague title

The Yomiuri Giants are the central focus of interleague after Wednesday’s win at Sapporo Dome.

Hisayoshi Chono had three hits, including a two-run homer, and the Giants beat up on “Handkerchief Prince” Yuki Saito en route to an 8-6 victory that put their magic number to become the Central League first team to earn the interleague title at two.

Any combination of a loss by the Pacific League’s Lotte Marines or victories by Yomiuri will give the Giants their first title in interleague play.

Shinnosuke Abe also went deep for the second consecutive game, a two-run blast, and Yoshinobu Takahashi had four hits and an RBI as the Giants pounded out a season-high 16 hits. The slumping Saito (5-5) was around for 11 of those hits and four of the runs, three earned, before getting the hook.

The second-year righty walked four and fanned two in 5.2 innings for his fourth loss in five decisions.

Tetsuya Utsumi (6-4) scattered six hits with no walks and four Ks over seven innings as the Giants moved into a tie for first in the CL.

SWALLOWS 6, EAGLES 5

Wladimir Balentien crushed a three-run homer -- his 14th -- off Darrell Rasner (0-1) in the ninth, when Yakult had five of its season-high 18 hits, to come from behind and beat Rakuten at The Kleenex Box.

Yakult’s Tony Barnette picked up his 14th save and Shinya Miyamoto has his first five-hit game since Aug. 14, 2002, while Rakuten’s Masahiro Tanaka left after eight innings and got no decision.

HAWKS 1, DRAGONS 0

Nagisa Arakaki (5-2) fired 6.1 shutout innings and three relievers finished off a two-hitter as SoftBank blanked Chunichi at FYJ Dome.

Hideki Okajima got one out in the seventh to extend his scoreless streak from the start of the season to 23 outings.

LIONS 2, TIGERS 0

Kazuhisa Ishii (6-2) tossed his second shutout this season, and Takeya Nakamura went deep for his 51st career interleague longball [his 13th this season] as Seibu topped Hanshin at Seibu Dome.

Ishii tossed a two-hit gem for his second shutout this season, and Shogo Akiyama also went deep as Seibu won its third straight.

BAYSTARS 2, BUFFLOES 1

Norihiro Nakamura stroked a mammoth solo blast in the eighth inning to break a 1-1 tie and help lift visiting Yokohama over Orix.

CARP 3, MARINES 3, 10 INNINGS

Tetsuya Kokubo’s RBI single in the ninth off Yasuhiko Yabuta got Hiroshima even, and Lotte couldn’t score a runner from second in the bottom of the 10th as the teams played to a stalemate at The Q.

*Interleague count
PL 58, CL 55, 10 TIES