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Some rights reserved.
Yakult ace Shohei Tateyama exploited the light-hitting Chunichi Dragons, and the Swallows made exceptional use if two hits on Saturday afternoon.
The result was Tateyama's first career 1-0 win, a six-hitter blanking the Central League's second-place team.
Tateyama (8-8) induced 17 groundouts, while fanning three and walking two in his first shutout since Oct. 18 last year.
Kazuhiro Hatakeyama had the key hit, moving Lastings Milledge To third with a single in the fourth inning. Milledge scored on Shingo Kawabata's sac fly for the game's only run.
The win halted Yakult's four-game slide, and helped the fourth-place Swallows keep pace with third-place Hiroshima, which won later.
Shinji Iwata (5-4) was the hard-luck loser. He surrendered just two hits, but one came in the fourth after he walked Milledge to open the frame.
“There’s not much to complain about in Iwata’s case, but that’s what can happen if you walk a guy to start an inning,” said Chunichi skipper Morimichi Takagi.
BAYSTARS 5, GIANTS 4
Yoshitomo Tsutsugo blasted a double for the first walk-off hit of his two-plus-year career in the 10th -- after Yokohama scored three times in the seventh to move on top…but eventually blew that lead -- as the BayStars came back to win and halt Yomiuri’s six-game winning streak.
Yokohama's Alex Ramirez had three hits, including a two-run single that put the BayStars ahead briefly in the seventh inning.
CARP 8, TIGERS 3
Yoshikazu Kura’s two-run double in a three-run sixth put Hiroshima in the lead, and one of Masato Akamatsu’s three hits was an RBI single as the Carp rallied past Hanshin at The Zoom.
Dennis Sarfate (2-4) [friend of JBW] picked up the win with two scoreless frames of relief, and Soichiro Amaya hit the first inside-the-side-the-park homer for Hiroshima since Sept. 4, 1992.
PACIFIC LEAGUE
MARINES 4, HAWKS 1
Doug Mathis (1-2) held SoftBank scoreless over seven frames, and Tomoya Satozaki’s solo blast in a two-run seventh was the difference as Lotte won at The Q.
Tadahito Iguchi and Ryusuke Minami also knocked in runs for the Marines.
EAGLES 2, FIGHTERS 1
Pinch-hitter Kazuo Matsui drove in the game-winner with an opposite-field floater down the line in left as Rakuten came from a run down against closer Hisashi Takeda (4-4) to edge Nippon Ham in a walk-off at The Kleenex Box.
Shintaro Masuda’s RBI single plated Ginji Akaminai with the tying run, setting up Matsui for his second walk-off hit this season, sixth of his career.
LIONS 10, BUFFALOES 5
Esteban German and Shogo Akiyama had two hits and two RBIs each, and Kazuhisa Ishii (9-4) went 5.1 innings as Seibu downed Orix at Kyocera Dome Osaka.
Takeya Nakamura hit his PL-best-tying 20th homer for the Lions, who moved back into first by percentage points.
[Edited by: jgibson on Sep 5, 2012 10:54 PM]