Alex Ramirez homered and drove in four runs Thursday as the Tokyo Yakult Swallows beat Kenshin Kawakami and the Chunichi Dragons with a 5-1 victory in the Central League.
Ramirez put Yakult on the board with a two-run shot, his 20th homer of the season, in the fourth inning and added a two-run single that capped a three-run fifth following an RBI single by Adam Riggs.
Masanori Ishikawa (9-7) threw five-plus shutout innings allowing six hits and no walks. Masato Hanada and Shohei Tateyama combined to limit the league leaders to a run the rest of the way.
Kawakami (14-3), the CL's winningest pitcher, gave up five runs on seven hits and two walks in losing his first start since July 14 and had his personal winning streak snapped at four games.