One ended and one kept going on Sunday, as the Hiroshima Carp failed to match the 12 straight wins posted by the 1984 Japan Series championship team. The Yakult Swallows also lost — for the 11th straight time.
Central League
Giants 5, Carp 4
At Tokyo Dome, 22-year-old Yomiuri cleanup hitter Kazuma Okamoto’s ninth home run and Shun Yamaguchi allowed a run over six innings. Shinnosuke Shigenobu broke a 4-4 eighth-inning tie by plating Okamoto with a sacrifice fly off Geronimo Franzua (4-2) as the Giants snapped Hiroshima’s 11-game winnings streak.
The Carp scored three runs in the seventh off Samuel Adames, to tie it with former Giant Hisayoshi Chono delivering a game-tying, pinch-hit RBI single. Yomiuri reliever Hirokazu Sawamura struck out two in a 1-2-3 eighth to earn the win.
Former Cubs farmhand Xavier Batista continues to rake, going 3-for-5 for the Carp.
Tigers 7, BayStars 0
At Yokohama Stadium, lefty Onelki Garcia (1-2) struck out six and walked one in a four-hit shutout of DeNA. Hanshin hammered lefty Haruhiro Hamaguchi (2-2) for five runs, four earned, on five hits and a walk over 1-2/3 innings.
Hamaguchi, coming off his second shutout in three weeks, gave up a leadoff homer in the first to rookie Koji Chikamoto, while a leadoff triple by catcher Ryutaro Umeno sparked a four-run second. Jefry Marte and Masahiro Nakatani followed with back-to-back home runs.
Dragons 10, Swallows 8
At Jingu Stadium, Steven Moya’s three-run, fifth-inning home run broke a 6-6 tie, while Naomichi Donoue hit two homers and Shuhei Takahashi singled, doubled, homered, scored three and drove in three as Chunichi won a home run derby with Yakult. The Swallows lost their 11th straight.
Leading 3-2, Norichika Aoki opened the third with a home run, and Tetsuto Yamada and Wladimir Balentien followed with two more to make it a 6-2 lead, Swallows starter Hirotoshi Takanashi allowed nine runs in five innings.
Dragons closer Hiroshi Suzuki issued a one-out walk but got Balentien to hit into a double play to earn his league-leading 14th save.
Pacific League
Eagles 4, Buffaloes 1
At Rakuten Seimei Park, Rakuten starter Ryota Ishibashi (3-2) allowed a run over five innings, and four relievers overcame a couple of jams to deliver four scoreless innings. Orix starter Kohei “K” Suzuki issued two, two-out walks in the second inning after Zelous Wheeler opened the inning with a single.
Hiroaki Shimauchi drew a 10-pitch walk and rookie Ryosuke Tatsumi walked on six pitches to load them up for rookie Kengo Horiuchi’s two-run, two-out single as the Eagles came from a run down.
Eagles closer Yuki Matsui struck out the side in the ninth to earn his 13th save.
Fighter 6, Lions 5
At MetLife Dome, Nippon Ham cleanup hitter Sho Nakata reached base four times, homered and had a sacrifice fly and three RBIs in a come-from-behind win that snapped Seibu’s winning streak at five games.
Kensuke Kondo broke a 4-4 tie in the eighth with an RBI double, and Nakata singled him home to make it 6-4.
Side-armer Ryo Akiyoshi () acquired in a four-way trade from the Yakult Swallows in December after posting ERAs of 3.35 in 2017 and 4.23 in 2018, recorded his eighth save with a 1-2-3 ninth.
Marines 8, Hawks 2
At Zozo Marine Stadium, Ayumu Ishikawa (2-2) struck out five and allowed two runs over 6-1/3 innings, while Seiya Inoue homered and drove in four wins as Lotte whipped SoftBank. Ikuhiro Kiyota failed to homer for the fifth straight game, but tripled, reached base four times and scored four runs.
Hawks starter Ariel Miranda (3-3) allowed four runs on six hits and two walks, while striking out one.
In other news
- Nippon Ham’s top draft pick, Kosei Yoshida, who became a national hero at last year’s summer national high school baseball championship, returned to action after dealing with a gastrointestinal virus, throwing two scoreless innings in the Eastern League on Sunday.
