Eddy Diaz belted a grand slam homer in the third inning and Hiroki Kuroda overcame a shaky start to give the Hiroshima Carp an 8-3 triumph over the Central League-leading Yomiuri Giants on Wednesday in Hiroshima.
| Central League | |||||
| Won | Lost | Tied | Pct. | GB | |
| Yomiuri | 75 | 53 | 0 | .586 | - |
| Chunichi | 63 | 59 | 0 | .516 | 9.0 |
| Yokohama | 62 | 61 | 1 | .504 | 10.5 |
| Yakult | 56 | 61 | 1 | .479 | 13.5 |
| Hiroshima | 57 | 65 | 1 | .467 | 15.0 |
| Hanshin | 55 | 69 | 1 | .444 | 18.0 |
| Pacific League | |||||
| Won | Lost | Tied | Pct. | GB | |
| Daiei | 67 | 54 | 2 | .554 | - |
| Seibu | 61 | 56 | 5 | .521 | 4.0 |
| Nippon Ham | 64 | 59 | 1 | .520 | 4.0 |
| Orix | 55 | 61 | 3 | .474 | 9.5 |
| Lotte | 54 | 61 | 5 | .470 | 10.0 |
| Kintetsu | 57 | 67 | 2 | .460 | 11.5 |
Yomiuri's second loss in a row to Hiroshima did not hurt the Giants' drive for the CL pennant, however, as second-place Chunichi lost, leaving the Giants two wins away from their first league championship since 1996.
Kuroda spotted the Giants a 3-2 lead in the first three innings, but then watched as his teammates loaded the bases for the slam by Diaz in the third that put the Carp ahead for good.
Kuroda (6-6) went the distance on 124 pitches with eight strikeouts while allowing only six hits, including homers to Kazuhiro Kiyohara and Yoshinobu Takahashi.
BayStars 15, Dragons 1
In Yokohama, Takahiro Saeki hit a pair of three-run homers and drove in eight runs as the BayStars ended a three-game losing streak with a drubbing of Chunichi.
Tigers 6, Swallows 5
At Koshien Stadium, Jason Hardtke hit a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to right field in the bottom of the ninth inning to give Hanshin a "sayonara" win over Yakult.
PACIFIC LEAGUE
Buffaloes 8, Fighters 1
At the Tokyo Dome, Koichi Isobe went 3-for-3 with four RBIs to lead Kintetsu over Nippon Ham, which slipped into third place in the league standings with the loss.