Hawks' unbeaten streak ends

Nishinomiya, Hyogo Pref. — Minoru Iwata limited the damage to three runs in seven innings and helped his own cause with a tiebreaking RBI single as the Hanshin Tigers beat the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks 5-3 on Friday.

The Tigers rapped out nine hits and the Hawks saw their undefeated streak end after 13 games, including two ties. It was Softbank's first loss in interleague play.

Iwata's bases-loaded single made it 2-1 in the second and another run scored the same inning when Matt Murton hit into a double play with the bases loaded.

Iwata (2-5) struck out seven and walked three.

"I haven't been pitching well lately and I was wondering, 'What the heck am I doing?' " said Iwata. "I've been ruining the flow of games lately, so I am glad that today I could get the win. I was determined not to lose tonight and I was really aggressive.

"The first pitch that came I thought might be the easiest to make contact, so I swung for that one," he added.

Takahiro Arai's single in the bottom of first tied the game at 1-1 at Koshien Stadium.

Pinch hitter Jose Ortiz pulled Softbank within two with a two-run homer in the seventh, but it wasn't enough. Kyuji Fujikawa closed out for his 10th save. D.J. Houlton (6-2) took the loss. Takahiro Arai's single in the bottom of first tied the game at 1-all at

BayStars 3, Marines 1

At Yokohama Stadium, Naoto Watanabe had a tiebreaking RBI double off Yoshihisa Naruse (4-3) in the eighth inning and an insurance run scored on a throwing error by shortstop Takuya Takahama as Yokohama downed Chiba Lotte to snap its four-game losing skid.

Shigeru Kaga (2-1) pitched one-run ball over eight frames and Shun Yamaguchi picked up his 11th save.

Fighters 9, Swallows 0

At Tokyo's Jingu Stadium, Bobby Keppel (5-1) threw seven shutout innings, Yoshio Itoi hit a pair of solo homers and Hokkaido Nippon Ham blanked Tokyo Yakult for its record-matching fifth consecutive shutout victory.

The Fighters extended their PL record streak without allowing a run to 50 innings, and tied the Chunichi Dragons's Japanese pro baseball mark of five straight shutout wins registered in July last year.

Shinya Tsuruoka drove in three runs, highlighting a four-run third off Yoshinori Sato (5-3) with a two-run single, and added a sac fly in a four-run seventh.

Lions 2, Dragons 1 (11)

At Nagoya Dome, pinch hitter Hiroshi Hirao hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly off Masafumi Hirai (1-1) in the 11th inning and Seibu held on to send Chunichi to its third loss in a row.

Hsu Ming-chieh (3-0) got the win in relief after Kazuhisa Makita pitched nine innings of one-run ball.

Buffaloes 6, Carp 3

At Hiroshima's Mazda Stadium, Mitsutaka Goto went 2-for-5 with three RBIs, helping Orix in its 14-hit attack against Hiroshima en route to its third straight win.

Shinya Nakayama (1-4) went six shutout innings. Bryan Bullington (4-2) yielded six runs in four innings for the Carp, who lost their seventh straight and set a league worst record for being held scoreless in 50 consecutive innings.

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