Hawks hurler Tomohiro Nagai tossed a six-hitter and gave up just one run on a homer by Ichiro Suzuki to lead defending champion Daiei over the Orix BlueWave 6-1 on Tuesday at the Fukuoka Dome. Melvin Nieves singled home the first run of the game in the sixth, then drilled a solo homer in Daiei's three-run eighth.
Hiroki Kokubo and Hiroshi Shibahara combined for six of the Hawks' 15 hits.
Lions 9, Buffaloes 3
Taisei Takagi went 4-for-4 with three RBIs and Kiyoshi Toyoda pitched eight strong innings as Seibu beat Kintetsu at the Seibu Dome.
Fighters 4, Marines 3
Yoshinori Tateyama combined with three relievers on a three hitter as Nippon Ham edged Lotte at Hitachinaka Stadium, Ibaraki Pref.
Carlos Mirabal worked a perfect ninth and earned the save.
CENTRAL LEAGUE
Giants 5, BayStars 2 (10)
Hideki Matsui drove home the go-ahead run from a 2-2 tie in the 10th inning to lift Yomiuri over Yokohama at Yokohama Stadium.
Giants reliever Takaki Nomura, who gave up a game-tying clutch solo homer to Takuro Ishii in the bottom of the ninth, picked up the win.
Dragons 4, Swallows 3
Chunichi scored the game-winning run on a throwing error by Yakult reliever Ryota Igarashi in the top of the ninth as the defending champion beat the Swallows at Jingu.
Tigers 4, Carp 4 (15)
At Koshien Stadium, Hanshin scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game and both teams failed to score a run in the extra innings.