Tooth and claw …

Tigers blank Carp, distance themselves from basement

The Hanshin Tigers for a while looked like a team stumbling on the stairs to the Central League cellar, trying to make sure they didn’t get trapped there at the end of the season.

They found their balance on Friday night, blanking the third-place Hiroshima Carp 3-0 behind Atsushi Nomi at Koshien Stadium. The win moved the Tigers five games clear of cellar-dwelling Yokohama.

The lefty handcuffed the Carp on three hits over eight innings, and Kyuji Fujikawa worked a nervy ninth -- putting two runners on with one out -- before locking it up for his 21st save. Nomi fanned a half-dozen and walked one.

Takashi Toritani backed Nomi (7-9) by driving in a run in the first inning, and Keiichi Hirano was credited with a steal of home in the sixth inning [leading to a five-minute rhubarb and subsequent ejection for Carp skipper Kenjiro Nomura].
The lefty was trying to bunt and appeared to foul the ball off, but umpires ruled it a pass ball and Hirano walked home.

Nomura’s ejection was the first for a skipper in either league this season.

Bryan Bullington (6-11) was saddled with the loss, despite pitching well over seven innings. The righty pitched around three errors [one of them his own], yielding two runs [one earned], on eight hits.

GIANTS 2, BAYSTARS 1

Second-year righty Yuki Koyama (1-1) tossed a career-high seven innings, holding Yokohama to four hits and walking one with four Ks, and Hayato Sakamoto’s sac fly in the seventh was the difference as Yomiuri cut its magic number to clinch the CL to 23 with a win at home.

DRAGONS 4, SWALLOWS 4

Wataru Hiyane floated his third single of the night into right in the ninth inning, and eventually came around to score on Shingo Kawabata’s clutch hit as Yakult and Chunichi tied at Jingu Stadium.

PACIFIC LEAGUE

LIONS 5, MARINES 3

Takeya Nakamura hit his PL-best 22nd homer [a three-run shot] to put Seibu in the lead, and Hideto Asamura also went deep as Seibu downed Lotte at Seibu Dome.

Nakamura drove in four, and four Seibu relievers combined to throw 4.1 innings of one-hit relief to close it out.

HAWKS 1, FIGHTERS 1, 10 INNINGS

Shinya Tsuruoka put Nippon Ham on top with a two-out doubles in the seventh, but Hiroki Kokubo’s second hit of the game knocked in the game-tying run as SoftBank came back to force a tie at FYJ Dome.

EAGLES 3, BUFFALOES 2

Jose Fernandez broke a 1-1 tie in the fourth by belting his first homer since June 6, and Wataru Karashima (5-5) held Orix to two runs over seven innings to beat Kei Igawa (2-6) at The Kleenex Box.