Tiger bombs …

Eldred’s blast helps Hiroshima edge Hanshin

Brad Eldred is beating the Hanshin Tigers like he owns them.

Eldred socked his fifth homer since joining the Carp on June 29, a two-run shot in the eighth, and three relievers each worked a scoreless inning as Hiroshima walked away with a 2-1 win over the slumping Tigers on Saturday.

All five of Eldred’s longballs have come in the last seven games, and four of them have come against the Tigers. He took reliever Shinobu Fukuhara (0-3) deep to right center with two outs in the eighth after Atsushi Nomi had put in 7.1 superb innings.

Hiroshima’s Takeru Iwamura allowed the tying run to reach third before a diving catch by Shogo Kimura on a ball hit sharply down the third-base line ended the inning. It was his 29th consecutive scoreless appearance. Ryuji Yokohama (1-0) got the win and Kam Mickolio tossed a perfect ninth for his 15th save.

Nomi was going on short rest, as will Sunday’s Randy Messenger, with the Tigers mired in an eight-game skid, their longest since September 2007. Hanshin fell 19 games under .500.

GIANTS 9, SWALLOWS 1

Shinnosuke Abe cracked a two-run homer in the first inning, and starter D.J. Houlton became the first Yomiuri import pitcher since Wirfin Obispo in 2010 to hit a home run as the Giants routed Yakult at Tokyo Dome for their seventh consecutive win.

Houlton (8-6) limited the Swallows to a run on eight hits and a walk [with eight Ks] over seven innings, and Yoshinobu Takahashi put the game out of reach with a fifth-inning grand slam [the ninth of his career].

BAYSTARS 9, DRAGONS 2

“The Darvish of Yokohama,” Yuki Kuniyoshi (2-7), worked seven strong innings, and third-year slugger Yoshitomo Tsutusgo had his first career four-hit game, driving in a pair of runs as Yokohama stomped visiting Chunichi.

PACIFIC LEAGUE

HAWKS 2, EAGLES 1

Seiichi Uchikawa’s RBI single in the seventh gave SoftBank the lead and helped sixth-year lefty Kenji Otonari (10-4) reach double digits for the second time in his career as the Hawks squeaked past Rakuten at FYJ Dome.

SoftBank’s Yuichi Honda stole his 250th base [the 43th player to reach that total] in a victory that snapped Rakuten’s three-game winning streak.

FIGHTERS 3, LIONS 0

Mitsuo Yoshikawa twirled a two-hitter with no walks eight Ks, and Kenshi Sugiya and Shinya Tsuruoka knocked in runs as Nippon Ham blanked host Seibu.

Yoshikawa (9-4) dropped his ERA to 1.93 -- now second best in the PL -- in his second career shutout [the first was Aug. 25, 2007].

BUFFALOES 4, MARINES 0

Satoshi Komatsu (3-0) threw five sharp innings for his first win as a starter since July 31, 2010, and four players knocked in a run each as Orix snapped a four-game slide with a shutout at The Q.

Komatsu scattered five hits and two walks, and three relievers shut down the Marines on one hit over the final four frames to close it out.



[Edited by: jgibson on Sep 7, 2012 8:56 PM]