Roberto Petagine hit a two-run tiebreaking homer in the third inning Thursday to lift the Yakult Swallows to their 10th straight win with a 6-2 victory over the Yokohama BayStars in the Central League.
Petagine slammed his 36th homer of the season and his second in as many nights and Futoshi Yamabe (4-2) pitched 5 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on five hits, for the win at Jingu Stadium.
Pinch-hitter Shinichi Sato hit an RBI single in the sixth to make it 4-2 and Yakult added two more runs in the seventh en route to marking its longest winning streak in five years while handing the BayStars their sixth loss in a row.
Giants 8, Carp 0
At Hiroshima Stadium, Hideki Matsui hit his league-leading 38th homer and Yusaku Iriki pitched a six-hit shutout with 10 strikeouts as front-running Yomiuri routed Hiroshima.
Toshihisa Nishi followed Matsui's solo shot with a two-run blast off Shinji Sasaoka (5-7) to cap a three-run second inning and the Giants added three runs in the sixth on back-to-back RBI hits by Akira Eto and Takayuki Saito.
Iriki (5-3) pitched his first shutout since Aug. 1 last year while winning his first decision since July 18.
Dragons 12, Tigers 1
At Koshien Stadium, Motonobu Tanishige hit a grand slam and veteran right-hander Makoto Kito pitched five scoreless innings as Chunichi crushed Hanshin for its fourth straight victory.
Kazuyoshi Tatsunami, who went 3-for-4, hit a two-out, bases-loaded single to open the scoring in the fifth. Tanishige's grand slam in the seventh increased the lead to 7-0 and highlighted the Dragons' 17-hit onslaught.
Kito (3-3) allowed three hits and two walks and three relievers combined to hold the Tigers to one run the rest of the way.