Sunday, July 20, 2008

CHIBA (Kyodo) Craig Brazell and Taketoshi Goto homered in a decisive five-run seventh inning as the Saitama Seibu Lions beat the Chiba Lotte Marines 17-10 in a 29-hit slugfest on Saturday.

Slugger's delight: Saitama Seibu's Craig Brazell blasts a three-run homer in the seventh inning against the Marines at Chiba Marine Stadium on Saturday. The Lions won 17-10 over Chiba Lotte. KYODO PHOTO

Brazell connected off Yoshihisa Naruse (6-5) for a tiebreaking two-run shot and Goto added a three-run blast to put the Pacific League-leading Lions ahead 11-6 at Chiba Marine Stadium.

Hiroyuki Nakajima went 3-for-4 with a homer and three RBIs. Takumi Kuriyama and Kenta Matsusaka also drove in three runs for Seibu.

Tomoki Hoshino (3-1) won in relief after retiring the only batter he faced. Naruse, who has been named to Japan's roster for the Beijing Olympic baseball tournament, surrendered a career-worst nine runs in 6 2/3 innings.

Toshiaki Imae went 4-for-5 with a pair of home runs and six RBIs for Lotte, which lost its third in a row.

Buffaloes 6, Fighters 2

At Kobe's Skymark Stadium, rookie outfielder Hiroyuki Oze hit a three-run double in the sixth inning and Shogo Yamamoto took a shutout into the ninth, leading Orix over Hokkaido Nippon Ham.

Oze's two-out bases-loaded double off Kazuhito Tadano (5-3) pushed Orix's lead to 5-0 an inning after Takeshi Hidaka broke a scoreless tie with a solo home run and Tomotaka Sakaguchi added an RBI single.

Yamamoto (7-2) allowed two runs and nine hits in eight-plus innings. The left-hander was pulled after giving up a leadoff homer to Kensuke Tanaka and a single to Atsunori Inaba in the ninth.

Hawks 5, Eagles 4

At Sendai's Kleenex Stadium, Yuichi Honda hit a game-tying sacrifice fly and Munenori Kawasaki followed with a two-out RBI single in the top of the ninth inning as Softbank rallied to beat Tohoku Rakuten for its fourth win in a row.

Yuya Hasegawa delivered a bases-loaded triple to put Softbank up 3-0 in the fourth but Rakuten fought back and had a brief 4-3 lead when Rick Short hit a tiebreaking solo homer in the eighth.

Kenji Otonari (8-7) won in relief, while Kanehisa Arime (1-2) took the loss. Rakuten starter Masahiro Tanaka gave up three runs and four hits in seven innings with 10 strikeouts and four walks.

Giants 6, BayStars 2

At Yokohama Stadium, Alex Ramirez ignited the offense with a first-inning RBI single and Hisanori Takahashi pitched seven strong innings as Yomiuri stretched its winning streak against Yokohama to six games.

Ramirez's hit and a Yoshitono Tani RBI double helped the Giants to a 3-0 lead through four innings before the BayStars pulled within a run in the sixth on a two-run shot by Shunichi Murata, who homered for the fifth straight game and tied Ramirez for the Central League lead with 27 home runs.

A Shinnosuke Abe solo homer made it 4-2 in the eighth before Yomiuri added two runs in the ninth. Takahashi (4-3) allowed two runs and seven hits for the win, while Mike Wood (1-9) lost his third straight start.

Tigers 7, Dragons 2

In Nagoya, Takashi Toritani and Mitsunobu Takahashi homered and drove in five runs between them as front-running Hanshin beat Chunichi.

Toritani turned a one-run deficit into a 3-1 lead with a third-inning three-run shot and Takahashi hit a two-run drive after the Dragons pulled within 3-2 in the fifth.

Hanshin increased the lead in the eighth on RBI hits by Lewis Ford and Shinjiro Hiyama en route to its sixth straight win against Chunichi. Yuya Ando (8-5) worked five innings for the win.

Takashi Ogasawara (7-7) allowed both of Hanshin's homers in taking the loss. Kazuhiro Wada and Tyrone Woods had run-scoring singles for Chunichi.

Swallows 8, Carp 3

At Jingu Stadium, Kazuki Fukuchi hit a bases-clearing triple in a six-run sixth inning and Tatsuyoshi Masubuchi pitched six strong innings as Tokyo Yakult held off Hiroshima for its third straight win.

Yasushi Iihara and Wilson Valdez had back-to-back RBI singles to open the sixth before Fukuchi's triple and a Shinya Miyamoto run-scoring single made it 8-1. Shigenobu Shima and Kenta Kurihara homered for Hiroshima.

Masubuchi (3-3) won his first decision since May 7, limiting Hiroshima to a run and four hits.

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