Jeremy Powell pitched a three-hit shutout and Yoshinobu Takahashi hit an RBI single to break a scoreless tie in a five-run seventh inning Tuesday as the Yomiuri Giants beat the Hiroshima Carp 5-0 for their third straight win in the Central League.
Hiroshima Carp ace Hiroki Kuroda pitches against the Yomiuri Giants at Tokyo Dome.
Powell (2-0) scattered three singles with a walk and eight strikeouts to outpitch Hiroshima ace Hiroki Kuroda (0-1), while Takahashi's single to right scored Tomohiro Nioka, who hit the first of Yomiuri's five consecutive hits leading off the seventh at Tokyo Dome.
Hiroki Kokubo and Mototsugu Kawanaka singled home one run each. Shinnosuke Abe's double and Powell's grounder also drove in runs.
Kuroda gave up five runs and eight hits, six of them in the seventh, in 6-1/3 innings of work, while striking out five and walking none.
Early season leader Yomiuri finished the first 10 games with an 8-2 record. Hiroshima had its two-game winning streak stopped.
Meanwhile, the other five games scheduled for Tuesday were rained out.
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