Akinori Iwamura hit a tie-breaking solo homer off Masumi Kuwata to ignite a six-run fourth inning as the Yakult Swallows overcame a four-run deficit to beat the Yomiuri Giants 12-5 with an 18-hit attack Thursday at Tokyo's Jingu Stadium.

Central League
WonLostTied Pct.GB
Chunichi 4 2 0 .667 -
Yakult 3 2 0 .600 0.5
Yomiuri 3 3 0 .500 1.0
Hanshin 3 3 0 .500 1.0
Yokohama 2 3 0 .400 1.5
Hiroshima 2 4 0 .333 2.0
Pacific League
WonLostTied Pct.GB
Lotte 5 3 1 .625 -
Orix 5 4 0 .556 0.5
Kintetsu 5 5 0 .500 1.0
Seibu 5 5 0 .500 1.0
Nippon Ham 4 5 1 .444 1.5
Daiei 4 6 0 .400 2.0

Southpaw Kazuhisa Ishii (2-0) won his second straight start despite giving up five runs -- four earned -- and nine hits in seven innings, including a solo homer to Kazuhiro Kiyohara in the second.

Kuwata (0-1) lasted only 3-plus innings, allowing five runs and seven hits in his first start this season.

Dragons 4, BayStars 2

Kazuyoshi Tatsunami drove home the go-ahead run with a two-run double in an eighth-inning rally as Chunichi punished the BayStars bullpen in a victory at Yokohama Stadium to grab the Central League lead.

Kosuke Fukudome's RBI double tied the game 2-2 before Tatsunami hit his second double of the night to cap a three-run eighth after Chunichi struggled against Yokohama starter Kazuo Fukumori, who pitched one-hit ball over six scoreless innings.

Hitoki Iwase (2-0), who worked 11/3 innings in relief of starter Melvin Bunch, earned the win and Eddie Gaillard got his first save of the season. Atsushi Kizuka (0-1) took the loss.

Tigers 7, Carp 4

At Hiroshima Stadium, new import Ivan Cruz hit a pair of homers and Greg Hansell threw a two-hitter over five innings to lead Hanshin to a victory over the Carp.

Cruz opened the scoring for the visitors with his second homer of the season -- a two-run shot off Eric Ludwick (0-1) in the top of the first -- and added a solo blast in the seventh that made it 7-1.