Ginjiro Sumitani’s two-run fourth-inning double broke up a scoreless tie, and right-hander Toshiki Sakurai (1-0) allowed a run over eight innings for the Yomiuri Giants in a 5-3 Central League win over the Yokohama DeNA BayStars on Thursday.
The Giants had left runners in scoring position in each of the first three innings against BayStars right-hander Shinichi Onuki (0-1) but cashed in when Sumitani went down for a low 1-2 fastball and lined it to right. The opposite-field double scored Yoshiyuki Kamei from third and Gerardo Parra from first.
Sakurai gave up his only run in the fifth on Toshiro Miyazaki’s fourth home run. The Giants starter allowed two hits and two walks while striking out nine.
The Giants blew the game open in the eighth with three runs on three-straight RBI singles by Hiroyuki Nakajima, Para and Sumitani against right-hander Spencer Patton, who had been virtually untouchable in his first six games.
At Nagoya Dome, Dayan Viciedo homered, singled, walked, drove in three and scored two to lead the Chunichi Dragons to a 4-2 win over the Hanshin Tigers and a three-game series sweep.
At Tokyo’s Jingu Stadium, Munetaka Murakami completed the Tokyo Yakult Swallows’ comeback from a four-run deficit with a ninth-inning walk-off grand slam in a 9-5 win over the Hiroshima Carp. Naomichi Nishiura, whose home run made the difference in Wednesday’s win over the Carp, twice homered to tie it for the Swallows.
In the Pacific League, Seiya Inoue and Leonys Martin each homered and drove in three runs for the Chiba Lotte Marines in their 8-5 win over the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles at Sendai’s Rakuten Seimei Park Miyagi.
The Saitama Seibu Lions came from two runs down at their home park, MetLife Dome in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture, to win a 9-5 slugfest with the Orix Buffaloes. Lions leadoff man Corey Spangenberg homered, tripled, reached base four times and scored three runs, while Tomoya Mori drove in four for Seibu.
At Sapporo Dome, Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters rookie Yuki James Nomura had three hits, including a home run and a game-winning two-run double off Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks closer Yuito Mori (0-1), in a 9-8 walk-off win.
Source : Baseball – The Japan Times