Ryan Vogelsong threw six efficient innings and helped his own cause with a two-run homer Thursday as the Hanshin Tigers beat the Chunichi Dragons 3-1 in the Central League.
Tomoaki Kanemoto put Hanshin ahead in the first inning with an RBI double and Vogelsong homered to left in the second off Kenshin Kawakami (1-1) to make it 3-0 at Koshien Stadium.
Vogelsong (1-0) picked up his first win in Japanese baseball after allowing one run and four hits with five walks and five strikeouts before three innings of perfect relief by Tomoyuki Kubota, Jeff Williams and Kyuji Fujikawa. Fujikawa picked up his sixth save.
Kawakami (1-1) gave up three runs and eight hits in seven innings. Norihiro Nakamura hit his first home run of the season for Chunichi.
Giants 3, Carp 1
At Hiroshima Stadium, Hiroshi Kisanuki pitched 6 2/3 solid innings to earn his first win in three years as Yomiuri held on to an early lead to beat the Carp.
Tomohiro Nioka and Takuya Kimura delivered RBI singles in the second inning off rookie left-hander Takahiro Aoki (0-2).
Swallows 4, BayStars 2
At Yokohama Stadium, pinch-hitter Mitsuru Manaka doubled in the tiebreaking run in the eighth inning, leading Yakult over the BayStars.
PACIFIC LEAGUE
Eagles 5, Lions 4
At Sendai's Fullcast Stadium, Koichi Isobe hit a tiebreaking single in the eighth inning, helping Tohoku Rakuten snap a three-game skid.
Buffaloes 9, Fighters 0
At Sapporo Dome, Keiichi Hirano and Masahiro Abe drove in four runs between them in a 13-hit attack and Hidetaka Kawagoe went the distance for Orix.
Marines 6, Hawks 1
At Fukuoka's Yahoo Dome, Shingo Ono pitched one-run ball over seven effective innings and Saburo Omura chipped in with a three-run homer to power Chiba Lotte past Softbank.