Chihiro Kaneko pitched his third consecutive shutout as the Orix Buffaloes beat the Chiba Lotte Marines 5-0 on Wednesday.
Kaneko (7-7) scattered seven hits, walked one and struck out eight in a 135-pitch outing at Chiba Marine Stadium.
Mitsutaka Goto hit a solo home run in the first inning and Tomotaka Sakaguchi added a sacrifice fly in the second.
Backup catcher Fumihiro Suzuki blew the game wide open with a bases-loaded triple in the seventh. Yuta Omine (3-5) gave up three runs in 6 1/3 innings.
Hawks 4, Eagles 0
At Sendai's Kleenex Stadium, Shinsuke Ogura pitched six shutout innings, and Hiroki Kokubo and Hitoshi Tamura both homered as Fukuoka Softbank downed Tohoku Rakuten.
Lions 3, Fighters 2
At Saitama's Seibu Dome, Kensuke Tanaka botched Hisashi Takayama's bases-loaded grounder with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning, giving Seibu a walk-off win over Hokkaido Nippon Ham.
CENTRAL LEAGUE
Carp 4, BayStars 2
At Yokohama Stadium, Takahiro Iwamoto hit a pinch-hit, two-run homer in the top of the ninth inning to break open a one-run game as Hiroshima beat the BayStars.
Giancarlo Alvarado (3-4) allowed one run and three hits in seven innings, striking out eight and walking none. Takayuki Oshima picked up his first career save.
The Carp went ahead 2-1 in the seventh when Shogo Kimura scored on a wild pitch by Stephen Randolph (2-8). Hiroshima snapped a three-game losing streak.
Swallows 2, Dragons 1
At Nagoya Dome, Kyohei Muranaka pitched seven shutout innings with nine strikeouts as Tokyo Yakult edged Chunichi for its fourth straight victory.
Giants at Tigers — ppd.