Nakata powers Fighters past Lions

SAPPORO — Sho Nakata has become the Seibu Lions' biggest nightmare. The Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters cleanup hitter homered twice on Friday, driving in five runs and driving a wedge into the Lions' pennant pretensions.

The Fighters' 5-0 victory at Sapporo Dome boosted their Pacific League lead to three games over the Lions and lowered Nippon Ham's magic number to win the pennant to four. Nakata's big night came six days after he drove in four runs to lead the Fighters to a crucial come-from-behind victory over the Lions at Seibu Dome.

Nippon Ham lefty Mitsuo Yoshikawa (14-5) allowed two hits and a walk in his third shutout of the season. He struck out seven en route to lowering his ERA to a league-leading 1.71.

Nakata opened the scoring in the bottom of the first with a two-run homer off Ryoma Nogami (8-5), who allowed three runs in 4 1/3 innings.

"I just wanted to give us the first lead," said Nakata, who came up with two outs and a runner on first.

In the fifth inning, Nakata once more came up with two outs but this time with runners on the corners. He hit an 0-1 fastball from rookie Ken Togame and drove it high down the left-field foul line for his 23rd homer of the season.

"I got all of that one," the 23-year-old Nakata said. "I wasn't looking for any pitch in particular. I just wanted to take a full swing and hit whatever came."

Yoshikawa who lost to the Lions in the opener of their previous series, barely gave the visitors a chance.

"They made me look bad last time, so I knew I had to turn the tables on them here," said the 24-year-old southpaw, who needed just 95 pitches to go the distance. "It was a game we couldn't afford to lose, so I just focused on taking care of one batter at a time."

"Nakata's first homer gave me a big boost. After he hit his second, I knew it was my duty to go all the way."

The Fighters have five regular season games left to play, while the Lions have eight.

CENTRAL LEAGUE

Swallows 6, Tigers 3

At Jingu Stadium, Tokyo Yakult's Ryoji Aikawa drove in three runs, tying the game 3-3 in the seventh with his second RBI single, and Wladamir Balentien hit a two-run homer, his 30th, in the eighth as the Swallows came from behind to beat Hanshin.

The Swallows' victory lifted them 7 1/2 games clear of the fourth-place Hiroshima Carp in the battle for the Central League's final playoff spot.

Giants 3, BayStars 3 (9)

At Yokohama Stadium, Yomiuri's Kenji Yano drew a leadoff walk in the ninth inning and scored the tying run on a wild pitch by Yokohama closer Shun Yamaguchi, who blew a chance to record his 22nd save. Giants right-hander Satoshi Fukuda then retired the BayStars in the ninth to ensure a tie in the 3-hour, 57-minute game.

Hisayoshi Chono brought the Giants to within a run in the sixth inning with a two-run, pinch-hit single. The BayStars' Alex Ramirez drove in one of the hosts' runs with a fifth-inning infield single. Ramirez needs 11 more hits to reach 2,000 in his Japan career. Yokohama has 10 regular season games remaining this season.

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Nakata puts in solid shift as Fighters beat Giants

Masaru Takeda stymied batters over six shutout innings, Sho Nakata went 2-for-4 with two RBIs in the cleanup spot and the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters blanked the Yomiuri Giants 5-0 on Sunday afternoon.

That's all folks: Ryosuke Hirata hits a walk-off homer to give the Dragons a 1-0 win over the Marines on Sunday. KYODO

Atsunori Inaba got his team on the scoreboard with a leadoff homer in the second inning and Nakata tacked on a RBI double in the sixth before adding another run-scoring double in the eighth, which also featured an RBI double by Yang Dai-kang.

"I was just focused on making a solid impact and moving runners along today. I am very happy with my performance," said Nakata. "It's important that I was able to do my job in the cleanup spot, but more than anything, I am just happy we won. I wasn't trying to swing wildly, just stay compact," he said.

Pinch hitter Kazuya Murata extended the lead with an RBI infield single in the ninth.

Takeda (4-5) yielded just three hits — all singles — struck out six and walked none before handing the game over to the bullpen to close out. Seth Greisinger (1-2) took the loss.

Hawks 1, Carp 0

At Mazda Stadium, Tadashi Settsu threw his first career shutout, striking out eight as Softbank sent struggling Hiroshima to a nine-game losing streak for the first time in 12 years.

Settsu (5-2) allowed just four hits and retired the last 12 batters he faced after yielding a sixth-inning, leadoff single to Akihiro Higashide. Seiichi Uchikawa's RBI grounder off Giancarlo Alvarado (0-1) in the first was the sole run.

Buffaloes 14, Tigers 3

At Koshien Stadium, Takahiro Okada hit a three-run homer in a 3-for-6 outing and Orix broke out the bats in a 17-hit onslaught in a romp over Hanshin to win its fifth in a row.

Swallows 13, Eagles 5

At Jingu Stadium, Josh Whitesell, Wladimir Balentien and Ryohei Kawamoto each homered and Tokyo Yakult punched its opponent's lights out in a 10-run fourth inning in a rout of Tohoku Rakuten, which lost its third in a row to drop a season-worst 13 games below .500.

Dragons 1, Marines 0

At Nagoya Dome, Ryosuke Hirata hit a walk-off homer for the second day in a row, giving Chunichi a win over Chiba Lotte.

Hirata, who hit a game-ending shot in Saturday's win over Seibu, connected to the stands in right off closer Yasuhiko Yabuta (0-2) with two outs in the final frame. Reliever Koji Mise (1-0) got the win.

BayStars 5, Lions 4

At Yokohama Stadium, Terrmel Sledge hit a three-run homer and Brett Harper had a tiebreaking single in the eighth inning as the BayStars pulled out of last place with a win over Seibu.

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