Jason Hardtke and Tsuyoshi Shinjo drove in three runs each Friday and Keiichi Yabu tossed seven-plus innings as the Hanshin Tigers mauled the Yomiuri Giants 12-3 at Koshien Stadium.
Hardtke, acquired by Hanshin last month, drove in a pair of runs with a single in the eighth and Shinjo followed with a two-run blast off reliever Takahito Nomura as the Tigers scored seven runs to seal the victory.
Dragons 14, Carp 7
At Hiroshima Stadium, Lee Jeong Bum, Leo Gomez and Kazuki Inoue all homered off Shinji Sasaoka as the Chunichi Dragons scored five runs in the top of the third en route to a 14-7 victory over the Hiroshima Carp.
PACIFIC LEAGUE
Marines 6, BlueWave 4
At Green Stadium Kobe, Akira Otsuka and Frank Bolick both connected for two-run homers to pace Lotte to victory over front-runner Orix.
Lotte starter Tomohiro Kuroki (1-4) gave up four runs on eight hits over 7 2/3 innings to pick up his first win of the season and Brian Warren worked the ninth for his fourth save.
Lions 1, Hawks 0
At Fukuoka Dome, Takashi Ishii (4-1) fanned eight while scattering seven hits over eight scoreless innings for the win and Shinji Mori retired the final two batters to pick up the save as Seibu blanked Daiei in a pitcher's duel.
Daiei starter Akira Matsumoto was saddled with the loss after giving up one run on five hits over 7 2/3 innings.
Catcher Satoshi Nakajima drove in the only run of the game with a sacrifice fly in the third inning that scored Tetsuya Kakiuchi from third.
Buffaloes 19, Fighters 4
At Tokyo Dome, infielder Norihiro Nakamura belted a grand slam in the top of the fourth inning to spark Kintetsu to a drubbing of Nippon Ham.
Tuffy Rhodes, Phil Clark and Yuji Yoshioka also homered for the Buffaloes who pounded out a season-high 19 hits.