Lee Byung Kyu hit a walkoff solo homer off Kyuji Fujikawa with two outs in the 10th inning Sunday, giving the Chunichi Dragons a 3-2 victory over the Hanshin Tigers.
Lee drove a 1-2 pitch from Fujikawa (1-1) for an opposite-field shot over the left-field wall as second-place Chunichi won the rubber match of a three-game series at Nagoya Dome to move within 1.5 games of the Central League leader.
Hanshin led 2-0 on a Tomoaki Kanemoto RBI single in the fourth and a home run by Takashi Toritani in the seventh. But Norihiro Nakamura delivered a tying two-run double in the eighth off Tomoyuki Kubota before Lee handed the CL saves leader his first loss of the season.
Chen Wei-yin (2-1) picked up the win with a perfect 10th.
Carp 8, BayStars 6
At Hiroshima Stadium, Hiroshima took advantage of a shaky Yokohama bullpen to score six runs in an eighth-inning rally en route to its fourth straight victory.
Giants 7, Swallows 2
At Jingu Stadium, Yoshiyuki Kamei highlighted a three-run second inning with a two-run triple and Michihiro Ogasawara homered to help Yomiuri beat Tokyo Yakult.
PACIFIC LEAGUE
Lions 4, Marines 0
At Chiba Marine Stadium, Takahiko G.G. Sato hit a two-run homer and Kazuyuki Hoashi pitched a three-hitter for his first shutout of the season as Seibu defeated Chiba Lotte.
Eagles 7, Fighters 1
At Sapporo Dome, Masahiro Tanaka came within two outs of his second straight shutout and Yosuke Takasu and Rick Short drove in five runs between them as Tohoku Rakuten snapped its three-game skid while ending second-place Nippon Ham's winning streak at five games.
Hawks 7, Buffaloes 3
At Fukuoka's Yahoo Dome, Nobuhiko Matsunaka went 3-for-4 with a two-run go-ahead homer as Softbank rallied from a 3-0 deficit to beat Orix for its third straight win.
