Enyelbert Soto won his third straight start and Joel Guzman went 3-for-4 with two doubles as the Chunichi Dragons edged the Yakult Swallows 2-1 on Thursday.
Soto (3-0) held the CL-leading Swallows to one unearned run over seven innings. Chunichi broke a 1-1 tie in the sixth on an RBI groundout by Masahiko Morino after Guzman's double put runners on second and third with no outs against Yakult ace Shohei Tateyama (8-2).
Carp 3, BayStars 1
At Yokohama Stadium, Kenta Kurihara hit his third home run in two games and rookie Yuya Fukui (5-6) threw six innings of one-run ball as Hiroshima completed a three-game sweep of Yokohama.
Kurihara's solo homer in the fourth off Brent Leach (0-2) gave the Carp the lead for good at 2-1. Hiroshima won its fifth consecutive game and moved up to second in the CL standings.
PACIFIC LEAGUE
Hawks 3, Buffaloes 1
At Osaka's Kyocera Dome, Hitoshi Tamura drove in two runs and Shota Oba (3-0) allowed one run in five innings, leading Fukuoka Softbank past Orix for its sixth win in seven games.
Eagles 12, Lions 6
At Sendai's Kleenex Stadium, Kazuo Matsui went 3-for-4 with a homer and five RBIs against his former team as Tohoku Rakuten outslugged Seibu.
Fighters 4, Marines 4 (9)
At Sapporo Dome, Sho Nakata hit a two-run homer in the sixth inning as Hokkaido Nippon Ham rallied from a 4-0 deficit to play out a nine-inning tie.