Shota Imanaga pitched six solid innings and Tomo Otosaka drove in two runs on Sunday in the DeNA BayStars’ 3-0 win over the Central League-leading Yomiuri Giants.
In front of 45,948 at Tokyo Dome, Imanaga (12-5) struck out eight of the 21 batters he faced, while allowing two hits and two walks. The 25-year-old lefty claimed his third win of the month.
Otosaka opened the scoring in the third, and doubled the visitors’ lead with a seventh-inning RBI triple.
Tatsuhiro Shibata led off the third with a double, was sacrificed to third and scored on Otosaka’s single off Giants starter Shun Yamaguchi.
“I went to the plate determined to drive in a run. I thought I should wait until there was a pitch I could put a good swing on,” Otosaka said.
Three relievers combined to hold the Giants scoreless for the rest of the game.
Edwin Escobar, the loser Saturday night after allowing Shingo Ishikawa’s sayonara pinch-hit home run, entered in the seventh. Escobar surrendered a leadoff double to Kazuma Okamoto. But the Giants’ cleanup hitter was left stranded at third when the lefty struck out Ishikawa to end the inning.
Kazuki Mishima pitched a perfect eighth after Neftali Soto blasted a solo home run in the top of the frame. Closer Yasuaki Yamasaki pitched a 1-2-3 inning for his 26th save.
Yamaguchi (12-3) allowed two runs on six hits and a walk, while striking out eight over 6⅔ innings.
Dragons 10, Carp 4
At Nagoya Dome, Toshiki Abe went 3-for-4 with four RBIs as Chunichi came from behind to beat Hiroshima.
Swallows 5, Tigers 1
At Jingu Stadium, catcher Yuhei Nakamura’s two-run, fifth-inning single brought Yakult from a run down in a win over Hanshin.
PACIFIC LEAGUE
Fighters 6, Buffaloes 1
At Osaka’s Kyocera Dome, right-hander Chihiro Kaneko (5-6) picked up the win for pitching five scoreless innings in Nippon Ham’s win over his former team, Orix. Kensuke Kondo and Sho Nakata each drove in two runs
Eagles 14, Lions 2
At Tokorozawa’s MetLife Dome, Jabari Blash doubled in two runs, and former Lion Hideto Asamura hit a two-run home run as Rakuten crushed Seibu.
Marines 4, Hawks 3
At Chiba’s Zozo Marine Stadium, Atsuki Taneichi (7-2) struck out eight and allowed two runs over eight innings, and Daichi Suzuki delivered the big blow, a two-run seventh-inning double, as Lotte held off league-leading SoftBank.
Source : Baseball – The Japan Times
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