Mitsunobu Takahashi hit a two-run double and Lew Ford homered as the Hanshin Tigers held on to an early lead to beat the Seibu Lions 6-4 to extend their winning streak to six games on Wednesday.
Takahashi's two-out double in the first inning opened the scoring and Ford's first homer in two months made it 3-0 in the second before Hanshin fought off the Lions' comeback bid in a meeting between the Central and Pacific League leaders.
Giants 1, Fighters 0
At Sapporo Dome, Alex Ramirez homered off Yu Darvish to help Yomiuri to a shutout win over Hokkaido Nippon Ham at for its fifth win in six games.
Ramirez connected off Darvish (6-3) in the sixth inning for his 18th homer of the season and the Yomiuri bullpen preserved the lead in relief of Takahiko Nomaguchi (2-3), who worked five innings allowing five hits.
Swallows 5, Eagles 3 (10)
At Sendai's Kleenex Stadium, Kazuki Fukuchi hit a two-run triple in the top of the 10th inning to give Tokyo Yakult an extra-inning win over Tohoku Rakuten.
Hawks 5, Dragons 2
At Fukuoka's Yahoo Dome, Hiroshi Shibahara went 2-for-4 with a first-inning RBI single and Hiroki Kokubo homered, lifting Softbank over Chunichi.
Marines 1, Carp 0
At Chiba Marine Stadium, Shunsuke Watanabe pitched a three-hitter in his first complete-game shutout of the season as Chiba Lotte blanked Hiroshima.
Buffaloes 6, BayStars 5
At Osaka's Kyocera Dome, Tomotaka Sakaguchi drove in the go-ahead run with a two-out single in the eighth.