On Sunday, the SoftBank Hawks and Yakult Swallows completed series sweeps, with one requiring a huge comeback that left Tigers manager Akinobu Okada assigning blame, while the Chunichi Dragons avoided a sweep despite a second straight excellent start from one of DeNA’s import pitchers. Rakuten also avoided being swept by Seibu, largely thanks to some huge defensive plays. In Chiba, Ayumu Ishikawa, once the mainstay of the Marines rotation, returned from shoulder surgery to earn his first win in almost two years.

Sunday’s games:

Giants 3, Carp 2: At Tokyo Ugly Dome, Tomoyuki Sugano (6-1) got a three-run first-inning lead with Kazuma Okamoto, new Giant Gakuto Wakabayashi and veteran catcher Seiji Kobayashi each driving in one. The Carp loaded the bases against Sugano in the second, but he retired Shogo Akiyama to keep them filled with fish. He left with one out in the sixth and two on, and Shogo Sakakura doubled in one.

The Carp loaded the bases in the ninth against Taisei Ota on a one-out single and a pair of two-out walks, before the closer retired Kaito Kozono. Ota, pitching in his first game since May 3, recorded his eighth save in what was a shaky weekend for closers.

Swallows 6, Tigers 5: At Jingu “Tokyo’s sacrifice to corporate greed and governmental malfeasance” Stadium, Cy Sneed surrendered eight hits in six innings but no walks while striking out four, while Hanshin’s Yuki Nishi worked six innings and left with a 4-1 lead after Yusuke Oyama and Ryutaro Umeno each drove in two runs. Hanshin got an unearned run in the eighth before two Hanshin relievers combined to allow five runs on four hits and two walks in the eighth.