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Some rights reserved.
Giants clinch 3rd, keep Dragons’ title celebration on hold
Alex Ramirez slapped Chunichi Dragons’ pitching around like a mad man as the Yomiuri Giants made their rivals wait to celebrate their Central League title, pounding the first-place team 12-4 on Sunday at Tokyo Dome.
Ramirez homered for the fourth straight game, banging a three-run shot to break open the game, and skipper Tatsunori Hara went to the pen early to make sure the Dragons had to take their skipper-tossing, beer-pouring party away from The Big Egg.
The Giants locked up third place in the CL and will likely play the first stage of the Climax Series at Jingu Stadium against Yakult.
Chunichi’s magic number to win their fourth CL title under skipper Hiromitsu Ochiai remains at one. A Yakult Swallows loss or a Chunichi win would seal the championship.
The Dragons, who have three games left, next play on Tuesday at Yokohama.
TIGERS 2, CARP 0
Atsushi Nomi (11-9) tossed eight shutout innings and Craig Brazell knocked in the only runs with a two-run eighth-inning single as Hanshin blanked Hiroshima at Koshien Stadium.
Nomi fanned eight to take over the CL lead in strikeouts with 181, and closer Kyuji Fujikawa notched his CL-best 39th save.
PACIFIC LEAGUE
EAGLES 2, FIGHTERS 0
Masahiro Tanaka (19-5) fired his sixth shutout this season, 13th of his career, handcuffing Nippon Ham on a five-hitter to lock up the ERA title as Rakuten won at Sapporo Dome.
Tanaka’s 1.27 ERA is the second lowest in PL history. The righty fanned 11 with no walks to make a two-run sixth-inning single by Ginji Akaminai hold up.
Tanaka also likely wrapped up the Sawamura Award.
HAWKS 4, LIONS 4
Jose Fernandez tied the score with a clutch two-run double in the bottom of the ninth as Seibu scratched back to tie PL-winning SoftBank at Seibu Dome.
The draw, though, means the Lions cannot win the PL title on their own, needing a loss by the Orix Buffaloes on Tuesday for a playoff spot. Orix can wrap up third place with a victory.