Tadahito Iguchi drove in four runs and went 3-for-5 and Nobuhiko Matsunaka homered twice Friday as the Daiei Hawks outslugged the Orix BlueWave in a 9-3 rout to extend their lead in the Pacific League. Iguchi's two-run single made it 2-1 in the third inning before solo homers by Koji Akiyama and Matsunaka helped Daiei open up a 7-1 lead through six innings at Green Stadium Kobe in the day's only game in Japanese baseball.
| Central League | |||||
| Won | Lost | Tied | Pct. | GB | |
| Yakult | 29 | 20 | 2 | .592 | - |
| Yomiuri | 32 | 26 | 1 | .552 | 1.5 |
| Chunichi | 29 | 24 | 1 | .547 | 2.0 |
| Hiroshima | 25 | 23 | 3 | .521 | 3.5 |
| Yokohama | 20 | 30 | 1 | .400 | 9.5 |
| Hanshin | 20 | 32 | 0 | .385 | 10.5 |
| Pacific League | |||||
| Won | Lost | Tied | Pct. | GB | |
| Daiei | 33 | 24 | 1 | .579 | - |
| Lotte | 30 | 24 | 2 | .556 | 1.5 |
| Kintetsu | 31 | 26 | 2 | .544 | 2.0 |
| Orix | 28 | 25 | 4 | .528 | 3.0 |
| Seibu | 28 | 29 | 0 | .491 | 5.0 |
| Nippon Ham | 17 | 39 | 3 | .304 | 15.5 |
Hiroshi Shibahara and Matsunaka added solo shots in the eighth and ninth, respectively. Yoshitomo Tani and Takeshi Hidaka went deep for Orix in a game featuring six homers between the two teams.
OSAKA -- The Hanshin Tigers have acquired infielder Tom Evans of the Detroit Tigers' triple-A affiliate in Toledo, Ohio, officials of the Central League club announced Friday. Evans, 26, is expected to add much-needed slugging power to the floundering offense of the Tigers, who are at the bottom of the CL standings with a league-worst batting average of .235. His uniform number will be 5.
"There will be some competition with (Eduardo) Perez and (Ivan) Cruz, but I'd like Evans to play third and try batting cleanup," Hanshin manager Katsuya Nomura said. Evans has played in 42 games over three years with one homer, seven hits and a career .255 average.