Monday, Oct. 3, 2011

NISHINOMIYA, Hyogo Pref. — Chen Wei-yin pitched seven scoreless innings, Kazuhiro Wada drove in three runs in a 3-for-3 outing and the Chunichi Dragons routed the Hanshin Tigers 7-2 on Sunday afternoon.

Here it comes: Eagles southpaw Hiroshi Katayama fires a pitch to the Orix Buffaloes on Sunday at Kyocera Dome. Tohoku Rakuten topped Orix 5-3. KYODO

Chen (8-8) scattered five hits, struck out five and walked none before three relievers finished off. Yasutomo Kubo (7-8) was roughed up for six runs in five innings.

"My fastball was really moving. I wanted to pitched strongly and focus on location," Chen said. "My teammates scored a lot for me so I could concentrate on my pitching."

Wada hit a two-out two-run single in a four-run first, which also featured Ryosuke Hirata's two-run double at Koshien Stadium. Motonobu Tanishige added a two-run homer in the fifth for insurance before Wada tacked on an RBI double in the seventh.

Swallows 4, BayStars 3

At Yokohama Stadium, Hiroyasu Tanaka had a tiebreaking single and Ryoji Aikawa followed with an RBI double in the sixth inning as Tokyo Yakult avoided a three-game sweep by Yokohama.

Kazuhiro Hatakeyama led off the fourth with a homer off Kentaro Takasaki (5-14) for the opening run before Shuichi Murata tied it with a shot of his own in the bottom half of the frame.

Lim Chang Yong got his 30th save.

Giants 1, Carp 1 (9)

At Tokyo Dome, Hiroshima played Yomiuri to a nine-inning tie in a game in which rookie Hirokazu Sawamura pitched one-run ball over 6⅓ innings in a duel against Giancarlo Alvarado.

Alvarado yielded one unearned run in six innings. Hisayoshi Chono opened the scoring with an RBI double in the fifth before the Carp tied it 1-1 on Tetsuya Yamaguchi's wild pitch in the seventh. Chono flied out with the bases loaded to end the game.

PACIFIC LEAGUE

Hawks 5, Lions 3

At Seibu Dome, Fukuoka Softbank rapped out five hits in a four-run third inning as the newly crowned Pacific League champion completed a three-game sweep of Seibu.

Seiichi Uchikawa, Yuya Hasegawa and Hitoshi Tamura each had RBI singles as the Hawks took a 4-0 lead in the top of the third. Munenori Kawasaki added a run-scoring single in the sixth.

Eagles 5, Buffaloes 3

At Osaka's Kyocera Dome, Kazuo Matsui and Yosuke Takasu had RBI singles as Tohoku Rakuten broke a 3-3 tie in the sixth inning and went on to beat Orix.

Matsui was 3-for-5 with two RBIs for the Eagles, who improved to 12-11 with one tie against the Buffaloes.

Marines 6, Fighters 5

At Chiba's QVC Marine Field, Kazuya Fukuura hit a two-run single to key a five-run third inning as Chiba Lotte rallied over Hokkaido Nippon Ham, which has lost 10 of its last 12 games.

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