Broken wings …
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Some rights reserved.
Swallows continue nosedive, suffer Hanshin beatdown
The Yakult Swallows don’t even have a breeze beneath their wings these days.
Keiichi Hirano’s [generously scored] bases-clearing triple highlighted a six-run sixth inning that broke a scoreless tie as the Hanshin Tigers battled past Yakult 10-1 at rainy Jingu Stadium on Friday night.
The fourth-place Tigers needed the game to keep their slim hopes for the third and final spot in the Central League Climax Series alive, and Yoshitomo Kubo (8-8) gave them five scoreless innings before departing because of a rain delay.
The pen held Yakult to just Wladimir Balentien’s solo blast in the seventh, sending the second-place Swallows to their fifth straight loss.
Craig Brazell’s RBI single sparked the six-run sixth, and Matt Murton [friend of the JBW podcast] socked a three-run homer in the eighth.
His final hit, his 13th homer, put the Tigers up by nine and lifted him back into the CL batting lead at .316.
“That’s really not my concern. I mean, we’re trying to win every night,” Murton said. “There were seven runs on the board before that happened. Kubo-san did a great job and our offense came through again.”
Hirano’s drive to left center bounced past Swallows center fielder Norichika Aoki, who took a bad rout before jabbing his glove at the ball and coming up empty. The scorer awarded Hirano with a triple.
The Swallows have scored fewer than 10 runs for 35 straight games and haven’t posted double digits in hits over the past 11 games.
GIANTS 7, DRAGONS 2
Alex Ramirez had three hits, including a double and his
21st homer, as Yomiuri beat up on visiting Chunichi and rookie Yudai Ono (0-1) in his pro debut.
Hirokazu Sawamura (11-11) won his fifth straight decision, fanning seven and allowing six hits and no walks to become the first Giants rookie since Koji Uehara [Texas Rangers] in 1999 to win 11 games. The righty lowered his ERA to 1.97.
The Dragons saw their magic number to win their second straight CL title drop to one with Yakult’s loss.
PACIFIC LEAGUE
FIGHTERS 8, BUFFALOES 1
Yang Zhong-sho had three hits and two RBIs, and Kenshi Sugiya chipped in with two hits and two RBIs as Nippon Ham hammered Orix at Sapporo Dome.
The victory snapped an eight-game skid to the Buffaloes, who are now just one game ahead of Seibu in the race for the third and final PL playoff spot.