Sweeping changes ...
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Giants dominate, take over CL top spot
Sweeping changes took place on Sunday in the Central League after the Yomiuri Giants took a broom to the Chunichi Dragons at Tokyo Dome.
Pinch-hitter Kenji Yano's two-run bases-loaded double highlighted a three-run second inning, and Edgar Gonzalez homered while Shuichi Murata knocked in two in a 7-5 win.
The victory capped a three-game sweep and moved the Giants into first place over the two-time defending CL champs.
The Giants loaded the bases with no outs in the second and skipper Tatsunori Hara yanked rookie Seiji Tahara from his first pro start in favor of Yano. The reserve outfielder strike a 3-2 pitch from Soma Yamauchi (6-4) to right center for a 2-0 lead.
Hisayoshi Chono’s RBI groundout made it 3-0 before Gonzalez socked his second longball this season, a two-run shot, in the sixth. Murata singled home two in the seventh and a Chunichi rally died out two runs shy in the eighth.
Satoshi Fukuda (3-1) picked up the win with three perfect innings in relief.
CARP 2, BAYSTARS 1
Pinch-hitter extraordinaire Tomonori Maeda singled in the go-ahead run in the seventh as Hiroshima won the rubber game over Yokohama at The Zoom.
SWALLOWS 9, TIGERS 5
Hiroyasu Tanaka launched his second homer of the season, a tiebreaking two-run shot, to lift host Yakult past Hanshin.
PACIFIC LEAGUE
EAGLES 3, HAWKS 2
Kazuo Matsui smacked a sayonara double in the 10th inning to lift Rakuten past SoftBank and complete a sweep at The Kleenex Box.
It was their first three-game sweep against the Hawks since April of 2007. It was Matsui's first walk-off hit since Aug. 9, 2002, the eighth of his career.
MARINES 4, BUFFALOES 1
Katsuya Kakunaka's bases-loaded single broke a 1-1 tie in the sixth and Lotte added two late runs to wrestle the finale at Kyocera Dome Osaka away from host Orix.
FIGHTERS 3, LIONS 3
Hiroyuki Nakajima cracked a two-run game-tying homer after Chris Carter's first hit in Japan got host Seibu on the board, and that ended the scoring in a 10-inning time-limit draw with Nippon Ham.