Masumi Kuwata posted his first win of the season -- also his 170th career win -- in his fifth start as the Yomiuri Giants returned to .500 with a 9-2 victory over the Hiroshima Carp in the Central League on Thursday.
Kuwata (1-1), in his 19th year with the Giants, yielded eight hits and issued three walks but limited the damage to two runs in six innings of work while Yoshinobu Takahashi, Hiroki Kokubo and Tomohiro Nioka backed the 36-year-old right-hander with homers.
The road trip also marked former Daiei Hawks player Kokubo's return to Fukuoka Dome for the first time since Oct. 12, 2002. Kokubo was sidelined in 2003 due to a knee injury and was acquired by the Giants last off-season.
Kokubo went 4-for-8 with three RBIs in the last two games in Fukuoka, including a two-run homer off Tom Davey (3-4).
Tigers 12, BayStars 5
At Koshien Stadium, Makoto Imaoka went 3-for-4 with a team-high five RBIs and Tomoaki Kanemoto hit two-run homers in back-to-back at-bats as Hanshin crushed Yokohama in the finale of a three-game series after dropping two in a row.
Swallows 6, Dragons 4
At Jingu Stadium, Alex Ramirez, Katsuyuki Dobashi and Atsushi Furuta all homered off Kenshin Kawakami (6-3) to give Yakult an early lead and Akinori Iwamura capped the scoring with a solo shot in the eighth inning as Chunichi snapped a three-game winning streak.