Giants' Utsumi named interleague MVP

Southpaw Tetsuya Utsumi, who helped the Yomiuri Giants end the Pacific League's seven-year stranglehold on interleague championships, was named the interleague MVP on Thursday.

Utsumi, who went 4-0 with a 1.29 ERA in five starts against PL opponents, will receive ?2 million for the award.

Giants teammate Toshiya Sugiuchi and fellow lefty Mitsuo Yoshikawa of the Nippon Ham Fighters each won the Japan Life Insurance award, worth 1 million yen. Sugiuchi threw a no-hitter against Tohoku Rakuten on May 30 and posted a 4-1 interleague record with a 1.76 ERA, while Yoshikawa went 4-0 with a 1.42 ERA.

HIROSHIMA — The Hiroshima Carp announced the signing of 31-year-old first baseman Brad Eldred on Thursday. Eldred, a right-handed hitter, has played a total of 90 major league games since 2005.

The Carp are fourth in the Central League in home runs with 29, but Nick Stavinoha, who leads the team with nine, is out with a season-ending injury to his left knee that will require surgery. Regular cleanup hitter Kenta Kurihara, too, will likely be out until September after having elbow surgery on May 9.

The Carp are fifth in the Central League with a record of 24-31-6, three games back of fourth-place Hanshin. Eldred, who has 251 career minor league homers, has primarily been used as a designated hitter this season, although he has played first base and in the outfield.

The Detroit Tigers released the right-handed hitter, who had a brief stint with the American League club after a torrid spring for Triple-A Toledo. Eldred, who was 3-for-16 with Detroit with six strikeouts, hit 24 home runs in 63 games this season for Toledo.

Eldred, whose contract is for $230,000 plus incentives, will wear the No. 55 that belonged to former CL batting champ Shigenobu Shima before he was traded to the Seibu Lions in March.

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Greisinger handcuffs Dragons as Marines win interleague opener

Seth Greisinger pitched three-hit ball over eight innings, leading the Chiba Lotte Marines to a 3-1 win over the Chunichi Dragons as interleague play got under way on Wednesday.

Take flight: Swallows outfielder Lastings Milledge rounds third after his two-run home run against the Hawks on Wednesday at Jingu Stadium. KYODO

Greisinger (4-1) struck out eight and walked one and Yasuhiko Yabuta finished things off at Nagoya Dome as Lotte won its fifth in a row and improved to 11-4 with two ties on the road.

Greisinger came within three outs of his first shutout since April 21, 2009, when he did so for the Yomiuri Giants against the Yakult Swallows. Yabuta allowed an RBI grounder to Tony Blanco in the ninth, but got Hirokazu Ibata to fly out to left to end it for his 12th save.

Katsuya Kakunaka hit a two-out, run-scoring single in the first off Kenichi Nakata (3-2), extending his RBI streak to five games. Kazuya Fukuura and Hisao Heiuchi added run-scoring singles in the ninth.

Chunichi had a chance to tie it 1-1 when Yohei Oshima tried scoring from second on Masahiro Araki's one-out single in the sixth, but center fielder Yoshifumi Okada made a pinpoint throw to catcher Tomoya Satozaki for the out at home.

Giants 6, Buffaloes 0

At Tokyo Dome, Yoshinobu Takahashi hit a grand slam to complete a five-run first inning, and Satoshi Fukuda (1-1) picked up the win with three scoreless innings in relief.

Last-place Orix is winless in its last six games, including a tie.

Fighters 3, Tigers 1

At Nishinomiya's Koshien Stadium, Mitsuo Yoshikawa tossed one-run ball over six innings, and Yoshio Itoi led off the game with a homer as Hokkaido Nippon Ham beat Hanshin to snap a three-game skid.

Yoshikawa, who leads the Pacific League with a 1.13 ERA, gave up two hits, struck out six and walked one for the win. Jason Standridge (3-3) was tagged for the loss for Hanshin, which slipped into fourth place in the Central League.

Eagles 1, Carp 0, (11)

At Hiroshima Mazda Stadium, Jose Fernandez delivered a pinch-hit RBI double off closer Dennis Sarfate (0-3) with two outs in the 11th inning, lifting Tohoku Rakuten over Hiroshima and into third place in the PL with its sixth straight win.

Wataru Karashima went 8? scoreless innings in a pitching duel against Bryan Bullington, who pitched nine innings with 10 strikeouts. Jim Heuser (1-0) got his first win in Japan with 1? innings of scoreless relief. Hiroshima was held to just one hit.

Swallows 14, Hawks 3

At Jingu Stadium, Lastings Milledge hit a two-run home run in the first inning and finished with four RBIs on the night as Tokyo Yakult routed the defending Japan Series champions.

The run support came in handy for Swallows starter Masanori Ishikawa (3-4) who allowed three runs on nine hits and struck out two in the victory.

Lions 3, BayStars 1

At Yokohama Stadium, Lions slugger Takeya Nakamura homered for the first time in 125 plate appearances during the second inning and the Lions opened their interleague schedule with a win over the BayStars.

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Hawks, Pa. League stage another dominant interleague campaign

Big winners: The Pacific League-leading Fukuoka Softbank Hawks celebrate winning their third interleague title. KYODO

Another interleague season is in the books and, as has been the case in each of the previous seven years, a Pacific League team is raising the interleague pennant.

Pa. League teams rolled over their Central League counterparts, combining to finish with an above .500 mark for the sixth time in seven seasons.

While the PL romped again, this interleague campaign may be remembered more for the way the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks dominated all-comers.

The Hawks scored more runs that any team — by a wide margin — during cross-league action while also allowing the fewest.

They were unbeaten through their first 13 games against CL teams, ending a wildly successful period with an 18-4-2 mark.

"This is the result of cherishing each and every game," manager Koji Akiyama told reporters. "From me to the players, everybody concentrated on their job."

The Hawks won the interleague title for the third time, adding to the back-to-back titles they claimed in 2008 and 2009.

At the other end of the spectrum are the Hiroshima Carp, who wasted a solid start to the season by going 6-16-2 against the Pacific League.

The Chunichi Dragons finshed fourth overall, representing the year's top finish by a CL team.

Interleague play wrapped up on Sunday. Teams return to regular competition on June 24.

Put on the brakes: Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters pitcher Yu Darvish's brush with history came to an end on Wednesday in a 2-1 loss, only his second of the year, to the Hanshin Tigers.

Darvish threw a wild pitch in the third inning of that contest, allowing Matt Murton to score and ending his streak of consecutive scoreless innings at 46? frames.

That was good for second longest streak in Pacific League history.

The league record belongs to former Nankai Hawks star Tadashi Sugiura, who threw 54? straight shutout innings in 1959.

The overall NPB mark is one that may never be broken, a jaw-dropping 64? consecutive scoreless frames by Hall of Famer Masaichi Kaneda in 1958.

Vultures circling: Hanshin Tigers manager Akinobu Mayumi came under fire this week after Hanshin stockholders used a recent meeting to take shots at the suddenly embattled skipper.

Reportedly among the topics leaked out to the press, was dissatisfaction with Mayumi's management of the team and his insistence on playing the aging Tomoaki Kanemoto.

The Tigers' slow start is surely not helping matters, so Mayumi may want to start winning a few more games before the heat really gets turned up.

Flying high: Fukuoka Softbank Hawks lefty Toshiya Sugiuchi hit a milestone last week, notching his 1,500th career strikeout.

Sugiuchi is the third-fastest in NPB history to the mark, needing just 1423? innings.

Only Kazuhisa Ishii (1,432) and Yutaka Enatsu (1413) achieved the feat in fewer innings.

Bright spot: Yomiuri Giants hurler Tetsuya Utsumi threw a complete game against the Seibu Lions on Friday to become the first NPB hurler to reach nine wins this season.

Utsumi has been among the few bright spots, along with hitters Hisayoshi Chono and Alex Ramirez, in what has been an otherwise bleak season for the Kyojin. The lefty is 9-1 with a 1.32 ERA and 45 strikeouts in 10 starts.

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Hawks keep unbeaten interleague run going

Nobuhiro Matsuda doubled in two runs in the fifth inning, Tsuyoshi Wada threw six effective innings and the Softbank Hawks edged the Yomiuri Giants 2-1 on Wednesday.

The Hawks are now unbeaten in seven interleague games this season, winning five and tying two.

Matsuda doubled to left off Norihito Kaneto (1-1) to score Hiroki Kokubo and Hitoshi Tamura for a 2-0 Softbank lead in the top of the fifth at Tokyo Dome.

Yomiuri got one back in the bottom half against Wada (3-1) on a two-out RBI single by Daisuke Fujimura, who finished the night with three hits.

Wada struggled early but managed to hold the Giants to one run in six innings for the win.

The 2010 PL MVP gave up six hits, walked three and struck out five in a 100-pitch outing.

Fighters 2, Dragons 0

At Nagoya Dome, Yu Darvish pitched his second shutout of the season in winning his sixth straight start as Hokkaido Nippon Ham downed Chunichi.

Darvish allowed just four hits, all singles, walked one, struck out 11 and didn't permit a runner to reach third base. Yoshio Itoi had an RBI double in the first and Yang Dai-kang added a run-scoring single in the third, both off Maximo Nelson (3-2).

Lions 5, Carp 0

At Mazda Stadium, Takeya Nakamura hit his PL-leading 10th home run — a solo shot — and an RBI single in his first two at-bats as Seibu ended Hiroshima's winning streak at three games.

Buffaloes 4, Swallows 1

At Jingu Stadium, So Taguchi and Lee Seung Yeop delivered back-to-back RBI singles in the eighth inning as Orix beat Yakult for its third straight victory. Yakult has lost five of its last six games.

Marines 5, Tigers 2

At Koshien Stadium, Yuji Yoshimi (1-1) picked up his first win of the season by throwing 5? effective innings as Chiba Lotte beat Hanshin to snap a seven-game winless streak.

BayStars 6, Eagles 6

At Shizuoka's Kusanagi Stadium, Takehiro Ishikawa hit a game-tying single in the eighth inning, his third hit of the night, as Yokohama came back three times to play out a nine-inning tie with Tohoku Rakuten.

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