Sunday, Oct. 7, 2007

HIROSHIMA (Kyodo) Shigenobu Shima homered and drove in four runs to back a solid outing by Kan Otake as the Hiroshima Carp routed the Yokohama BayStars 10-1 on Saturday.

Dragons right-hander Kenichi Nakata fires a pitch against the Tokyo Yakult Swallows at Tokyo's Jingu Stadium on Saturday night. Chunichi won 8-1. KYODO PHOTO

Shima hit a three-run home run off Yuji Yoshimi (3-4) to cap a five-run first inning and added an RBI double in the fifth at Hiroshima Stadium. Otake (9-10) held Yokohama to three hits and no walks over seven innings.

Kenta Kurihara and Takahiro Arai drove in two runs apiece. Yokohama cleanup hitter Shuichi Murata hit his Central League-leading 36th homer with two outs in the ninth off Shinji Sasaoka, who had the final outing of his 18-year career, all with the Carp.

Dragons 8, Swallows 1

At Jingu Stadium, Norihiro Nakamura put the game out of reach for Tokyo Yakult with a pinch-hit grand slam in the sixth inning as Chunichi picked up its third win in four games.

Chunichi took a 3-0 lead in the first on a Tyrone Woods RBI single and a Ryosuke Hirata two-run single. Nakamura's 20th home run capped a five-run sixth after a run-scoring single by Lee Byung Kyu.

Kenichi Nakata (14-8) struck out eight in five shutout innings, allowing five hits and a walk. Kosuke Matsui (1-3) took the loss.

FUKUOKA (Kyodo) Softbank Hawks manager Sadaharu Oh hinted Friday that he will return to the club next year for his 14th season as manager.

"It was not a satisfactory year (for the team), including my physical condition," Oh said after Friday's 6-2 loss to the Seibu Lions at Yahoo Dome in the regular season finale. "I don't want that to happen next year."

Oh underwent a successful operation in July 2006 to remove his stomach after he was diagnosed with the early stages of stomach cancer.

He then recovered to manage the team from the start of this season.

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