Thursday, April 3, 2008

Kyodo News

Taiwanese left-hander Chen Wei-yin pitched 5 2/3 strong innings in emergency relief of Masahiro Yamamoto as the Chunichi Dragons shut out the Yomiuri Giants 3-0 to win their fourth straight game in the Central League on Wednesday.

Hiroshima Carp outfielder Alex Ochoa is tagged out by Hanshin Tigers shortstop Takashi Toritani at the second after hitting to right in the sixth inning on Wednesday at Hiroshima Stadium. The Tigers won 4-2. KYODO PHOTO

Chen (1-0) stepped in for Yamamoto after the veteran strained his back in the second inning and allowed just one hit with two walks to help send Yomiuri to a club-worst fifth loss in a row since opening day. Tetsuya Utsumi (0-1) took the loss.

Motonobu Tanishige had an RBI double in the fifth and a run-scoring single in the ninth at Tokyo Dome. Kazuhiro Wada drove in a run on a sacrifice fly in the sixth.

Tigers 4, Carp 2

At Hiroshima Stadium, Takashi Toritani hit a two-run homer in a 3-for-4 outing, helping power Hanshin past Hiroshima to win its fifth in a row since the season opener for the first time in six years.

Toritani erased a 1-0 deficit with a blast to right off Michito Miyazaki (0-1) in the second and singled in the fourth and eighth, respectively. Akihiro Yano's sacrifice fly drove in the fourth run in the sixth.

Swallows 8, BayStars 4

At Yokohama Stadium, Norichika Aoki and Aaron Guiel drove in three runs apiece as Tokyo Yakult downed the BayStars.

Eagles 6, Marines 3

At Kleenex Stadium, Jose Fernandez and Takeshi Yamasaki hit back-to-back two-run doubles in the first inning, helping Tohoku Rakuten extend its winning streak to a club-record six games with a win over Lotte.

Satoshi Nagai (2-0) limited the damage to three runs, scattering 10 hits and walking three, in 8 2/3 innings at Kleenex Stadium. Koji Aoyama escaped a two-on jam by getting Daisuke Hayakawa to ground out with two out in the ninth for his third save.

After Rakuten went ahead 4-1 through two innings, Motohiro Shima and Naoto Watanabe added insurance runs on a squeeze bunt and a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning.

Hawks 9, Fighters 0

At Kitakyushu, Hitoshi Tamura hit a three-run homer in the first inning to ignite a 15-hit attack and Kenji Otonari pitched his first career complete-game shutout as Softbank blanked Hokkaido Nippon Ham to end its losing streak at three games.

Lions 5, Buffaloes 1

At Kyocera Dome, Takeya Nakamura went 3-for-4 with a pair of homers and Craig Brazell also homered as Seibu downed Orix at Kyocera Dome.

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