Shinnosuke Abe hit his fifth homer in two games to equal a Japanese single-month record and Tuffy Rhodes went deep twice as the Yomiuri Giants produced a season-high 23 hits and crushed the Yakult Swallows 17-4 in the Central League on Thursday.
Keiichi Hirano of the Orix BlueWave hits a run-scoring double off Seibu Lions starter Daisuke Matsuzaka in the second inning at Nagoya Dome on Thursday. The BlueWave won 14-7.
Abe connected for his 15th and 16th homers at Jingu Stadium -- a two-run homer in the fifth and a solo shot in the ninth -- and has a chance to rewrite the Japan record shared by Hiromitsu Kadota (1981) and Akira Eto (1994) with one game remaining to be played this month.
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