Kimiyasu Kudo struck out eight in six shutout innings and four relievers held off Yokohama's comeback attempts Thursday as the Yomiuri Giants beat the BayStars 3-1 for a sweep of their three-game series at Yokohama Stadium.
| Central League | |||||
| Won | Lost | Tied | Pct. | GB | |
| Yomiuri | 54 | 35 | 0 | .607 | - |
| Chunichi | 44 | 41 | 0 | .518 | 8.0 |
| Hiroshima | 42 | 44 | 1 | .488 | 10.5 |
| Yokohama | 40 | 44 | 1 | .476 | 11.5 |
| Yakult | 37 | 44 | 1 | .457 | 13.0 |
| Hanshin | 39 | 48 | 1 | .448 | 14.0 |
| Pacific League | |||||
| Won | Lost | Tied | Pct. | GB | |
| Daiei | 48 | 38 | 2 | .558 | - |
| Orix | 44 | 38 | 1 | .537 | 2.0 |
| Seibu | 44 | 39 | 3 | .530 | 2.5 |
| Nippon Ham | 45 | 44 | 1 | .506 | 4.5 |
| Lotte | 39 | 47 | 2 | .453 | 9.0 |
| Kintetsu | 36 | 50 | 1 | .419 | 12.0 |
Yomiuri took the lead in the fourth inning on a bases-loaded groundout by Yoshinobu Takahashi and an RBI single by Tomohiro Nioka and made it 3-0 on a Daisuke Miura (5-4) wild pitch in the seventh.
Kudo (11-3) held Yokohama to three hits with no walks and Hideki Okajima worked the ninth, helping the Giants win their fifth straight.
Tigers 4, Dragons 3
At Koshien Stadium, Hiroshi Yagi drew a bases-loaded walk off Chunichi reliever Hitoki Iwase (6-5) in the bottom of the ninth inning as Hanshin overcame a 3-0 deficit to rally past the Dragons with a "sayonara" victory.
Minoru Kasai (5-3), who inherited a two-on, one-out situation in the top of the ninth, retired the next two batters to get the win.
PACIFIC LEAGUE
BlueWave 5, Marines 0
Nobuyuki Ebisu (4-0) threw a four-hitter and Yuji Goshima went 3-for-5, including a bases-clearing double, to lead Orix over Lotte.
Ebisu, a second-round draft pick in 1991, struck out three and walked two in his first career complete-game shutout to help Orix narrow the gap with the front-running Daiei Hawks to only two games.