Escaping the fire …

Dragons grab early lead, fight off Lions

Soma Yamauchi has seen the effects of Chunichi’s problems at the back of the bullpen, but he didn’t get burned on Saturday at Nagoya Dome.

Yamauchi (4-2) tossed seven scoreless innings, handcuffing Seibu on four hits as the Central League front-running Dragons won their first interleague game, 3-2 over the Pacific League’s fifth-place Lions.

Hitoki Iwase, who blew a one-run lead and a save chance on Thursday against the Lotte Marines, allowed a leadoff single and a stolen base to put the tying run on third with two outs before getting Takeya Nakamura to fly out to end the game for his Japan-best 15th save.

Daisuke Yamai allowed a pair of runs -- in part because second baseman Masahiro Araki lost a line drive just to his right that went for a hit -- in his new role as eighth-inning man, but the Dragons pulled out the victory.

The team earlier this week shipped CL MVP Takuya Asao down to the farm because of ineffectiveness.

Iwase managed to get the final out and notch his 55th career save in interleague play. Yohei Oshima singled and tripled and scored to extend his hitting streak to 13 games.

CARP 1, FIGHTERS 0

Yusuke Nomura (3-3) blanked Nippon Ham over seven innings, and Kam Mickolio and Dennis Sarfate finished off a five-hit shutout at The Zoom.

Eishin Soyogi’s fourth homer, a solo blast in the sixth, was the only run. Sarfate notched his ninth save.

MARINES 4, BAYSTARS 2

Yoshihisa Naruse (4-2) carried a shutout into the seventh before getting KO’d, but Yokohama ’s rally came up short in a loss to Lotte at Yokohama Stadium.

A delay of more than five minutes halted play in the second inning when umpires used video replay to determine if an Alex Ramirez drive went fair or foul. The drive was ruled foul.

GIANTS 2, HAWKS 0

Tetsuya Utsumi (3-4) shut down SoftBank on two hits and three walks, and Shinnosuke Abe slugged his 36th interleague homer, putting him fifth on the list, for the only runs at Tokyo Dome as Yomiuri won its sixth straight.

It was Yomiuri’s sixth consecutive victory against the PL, dating back to last season. Former Giant Hideki Okajima got two outs in his first Big Egg appearance since July 12, 2006 with the Fighters.

EAGLES 3, TIGERS 2

Luis Terrero’s first homer in Japan turned a one-run deficit into a one-run lead, and Takahiro Shiomi (5-3) held Hanshin to a run over 6.1 innings as Rakuten won at Koshien Stadium.

Koji Aoyama went four outs to record his seventh save in as many chances,

BUFFLOES 6, SWALLOWS 3, 11 INNINGS

Lee Dae Ho got Orix even with a two-run homer in the ninth, and Takayoshi Kawabata’s bases-clearing double in the 11th helped the Buffaloes down Yakult at Jingu Stadium.

Tony Barnette allowed his first runs in his 19 games this season on Lee’s homer, his sixth. Kawabata had three hits.

*Interleague count:
PL 10, CL 7, 1 tie

[Edited by: jgibson on May 20, 2012 11:12 AM]