===

Tokyo Dome | Attendance: 45,197 | Time: 2h 37m | Giants lead series, 14-6-0

Dicky Gonzalez tossed 7 shut-out innings to help the Giants down the Dragons, 2-0.

Gonzalez was practically unhittable, giving up just 2 hits over 7 innings of work (including three 1-2-3 innings).  He also never once allowed a runner to get passed first.

Wei-Ying Chen also had a decent outing, lasting 7 innings while giving up 2 runs (both earned) on 6 hits, 2 walks, an HBP, and 8 strike outs.  Chens' only problem was in the 6th when he walked Alex Ramirez (0-for-3, BB, R) and then gave up a home run to Yoshiyuki Kamei (1-for-4, HR, R, 2 RBI)) on a 3-2 slider.

Tetsuya Yamaguchi entered the game in the top of the 9th for the Giants and gave up a 1-out single to Tony Blanco (1-for-4) before getting Kazuhiro Wada (0-for-4) to ground into a 6-4-3 double play to end the game.

Missed Opportunities
Dragons
None

Giants
3rd: runners on first and third, 1 out > Matsumoto fouled out to third and Ogasawara flied out
5th: runners on first and second, 2 out > Matsumoto lined out
7th: runners on second, 2 out > Ogasawara flied out

Dragons: 5 LOB, 1 DP
Giants: 8 LOB, 1 DP

News
The Giants outhit the Dragons, 7-4. ... The Giants have won 6 games in a row. ... The Dragons have lost 3 straight. ... Gonzalez has won 4 straight against the Dragons ... Yamaguchi's 70th appearance of the season ties Brian Sikorski's previous club record set back in 2005. ... 16 of the 21 outs Gonzalez recorded were infield grounders.

Chunichi Dragons

Yomiuri Giants

===

Yokohama | Attendance: 28,112 | Time: 3h 35m | Tigers lead series, 14-9-0

Tatsuhiko Kinjo powered the Bay Stars passed the Hanshin Tigers, 7-2.

The Tigers got on the board first in the top of the 2nd on an RBI single by Tomoaki Kanemoto (2-for-3, RBI) with runners on first and second and 2 out, followed by an RBI single by Takahiro Arai (1-for-3, RBI) with runners on first and third and 2 out.

The Bay Stars cut the Tigers' lead in half in the bottom of the inning on an RBI double by Kinjo (3-for-4, 2 2B, HR, R, 5 RBI) with a runner on second and 1 out.  And they took the lead in the bottom of the 4th: Takahiro Saeki (1-for-3, 2 BB, 2B, R) led off with a double; Yuki Yoshimura (1-for-4, BB, 2B, R, RBI) tied the game with double; Noriharu Yamazaki (0-for-3, BB) hit a sac bunt, runner on third; Shingo Takeyama (2-for-4, R) struck out; pinch hitter Tatsuya Shimozono (0-for-0, BB, R) walked, runners on first and third; Kinjo cleared the bases with a double and gave the Bay Stars a 4-2 lead; and Kazuya Fujita (2-for-5, 2B, R) flied out to right to end the inning.

In bottom of the 8th, the Bay Stars tacked on 3 more runs on a 2-run homer by Kinjo and an RBI double by Takehiro Ishikawa (1-for-1, 2B, RBI).

The Tigers went down in order in the top of the 9th.

Missed Opportunities
Tigers
1st: runners on first and second, 2 out > Arai grounded out
3rd: runners on first and second, 2 out > Sekimoto struck out
8th: runners on first and second, 2 out > pinch hitter Brazell struck out

Bay Stars
3rd: bases loaded, 2 out > Murata struck out
4th: runner on second, 2 out > Fujita flied out
6th: runners on first and second, 1 out > Johnson struck out, Kinjo walked, and Fujita struck out
7th: runners on first and second, 1 out > Yoshimura grounded out and Yamazaki lined out
8th: bases loaded, 2 out > Yamazaki struck out

Tigers: 7 LOB, 1 DP
Bay Stars: 12 LOB, 0 DP

News
The Bay Stars outhit the Tigers, 12-6. ... The Bay Stars have won 3 straight. ... Iwata lost his 4th game of the year and first game since 8/19.

Hanshin Tigers

Yokohama Bay Stars

===

Mazda Stadium | Attendance: 31,486 | Time: 2h 26m | Series tied, 11-11-0

Hiromitsu Takagi stopped another losing streak as the Swallows beat the Hiroshima Carp, 3-0.

Takagi tossed another big victory for the Swallows and recorded his first ever complete game shut-out victory in the process.  Takagi gave up 4 hits (2 in the first, 1 in the third, and 1 in the 5th) and retired 14 straight after giving up his 4th hit in the fifth.

The Swallows offense didn't fare that much better against the Carp, but did have one big inning in the 4th: Shinya Miyamoto (0-for-4) grounded out to short to start the inning; Norichika Aoki (1-for-2, 2 BB, R) walked; Yasushi Iihara (1-for-4, HR, R, 2 RBI) hit his 6th home run of the year to give the Swallows a 2-0 lead; Kazuhiro Hatakeyama (2-for-4, 2 2B, R) hit a double into left; Yoshiyuki Noguchi (1-for-3, 2B, RBI) made it 3-0 with a double into right; Ryoji Aikawa (1-for-4, 2B) fouled out to first; Takagi (1-for-3) hit a single into left, runners on first and third; and Kazuki Fukuchi (0-for-4) grounded out to end the inning.

Other than the 4th, the Swallows were held to just 3 hits (all doubles) over 8 innings (including four 1-2-3 innings).

Missed Opportunities
Swallows
2nd: runner on second, 2 out > Noguchi grounded out
3rd: runner on third, 1 out > Fukuchi fouled out to right and Tanaka grounded out
4th: runner on second, 1 out > Aikawa fouled out to first, Takagi singled, runners on first and third, Fukuchi grounded out
5th: runner on second, 2 out > Iihara grounded out
8th: runner on second, 1 out > Iihara flied out, runner to third, Hatakeyama flied out

Carp
1st: runner on second, 1 out > Phillips grounded out and Kurihara grounded out

Swallows: 6 LOB, 0 DP
Carp: 3 LOB, 0 DP

News
The Swallows outhit the Carp, 7-4. ... This was Takagi's first pro complete game shut-out victory. ... Takagi also stopped the Swallows 9 game losing streak on 9/16.

Yakult Swallows

Hiroshima Carp

======

Sapporo Dome | Attendance: 34,214 | Time: 2h 58m | Series tied, 10-10-0

Ming-Chieh Hsu racked up a complete game, 5-2 victory against the Seibu Lions.

Hsu scattered 6 hits over 9 innings and gave up 2 earned runs, both on home runs:

1st inning: with 2 outs, Atsunori Inaba (1-for-4, HR, R, RBI) hit his 17th home run of the year
9th inning: with 2 outs, Terrmel Sledge (2-for-4, HR, R, RBI) hit his 23rd home run of the year

Other than these two innings, he allowed only 2 base runners to get to second and had three 1-2-3 innings.

On offense, the Lions quickly scored two runs in the first when Takeya Nakamura (2-for-5, 2B, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI) hit his 41st home run of the year following a 2-out walk to Hiroyuki Nakajima (1-for-4, BB, R).  Nakamura was again involved in the Lions second scoring opportunity in the top of the 6th when he and Yoshihito Ishii (2-for-5, 2B, RBI) hit back-to-back 1-out doubles and scored the Lions third run of the game.

The Lions tacked on two more runs in the top of the 8th when Takuya Hara (2-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI) hit a double that drove in Yutaro Ohsaki (2-for-4, R) from second and Tomoaki Sato, pinch running for G.G. Sato (2-for-3, BB) from first.

Missed Opportunities
Lions
3rd: runner on second, 1 out > Kuriyama grounded out and Nakajima grounded out
4th: runners on first and second, 2 out > Ginjiro flied out
6th: runners on first and second, 1 out > Ohsaki flied out, Ginjiro hit a single, bases loaded, Hara flied out
7th: runner on second, no out > Kuriyama grounded out, runner on third, Nakajima hit a grounder to short, runner on third thrown out at home, and Nakamura struck out
8th: runner on second, 2 out > Kataoka flied out

Fighters
3rd: runner on second, 1 out > Tanaka struck out and Morimoto grounded out
4th: runners on first and second, 1 out > Koyano flied out and Itoi grounded out

Lions: 9 LOB, 1 DP
Fighters: 4 LOB, 1 DP

News
The Lions outhit the Fighters, 13-6. ... The Lions have won 3 games in a row. ... The Fighters have dropped their last 3 games. ... The Lions have won the last 5 games against the Fighters. ... This was Hsu's first complete game since 2003. ... Nakamura now has 5 homers since his return to the active roster (12 games).

Seibu Lions

Nippon Ham Fighters

===

Kleenex Stadium | Attendance: 20,438 | Time: 3h 10m | Eagles lead series, 16-4-1

Seven Orix Buffaloes combined to toss a 6-hit, 3-0 shut-out victory against the Rakuten Eagles.

The Eagles had a number of opportunities to score a run off the Buffaloes, but they seemed to come up short each time -- they twice had runners on first and second with 1 out and could not get a run home.

The Orix offense wasn't overpowering, but it still pounded out 8 hits for 3 runs.

1st inning: Tomotaka Sakaguchi (2-for-4, BB, 2B, R) and Masahiro Abe (1-for-4, BB) started things off with back-to-back singles that put runners on first and third. Hirotoshi Kitagawa (1-for-3, R, RBI) drove in the first run of the game on a sac fly to right.
6th inning: with Tuffy Rhodes (0-for-3, BB, R) on first and Kitagawa on second and 1 out, Mitsutaka Goto (1-for-4, 2B, RBI) drove in the Buffaloes' second run of the game that left runners on second and third. Naoyuki Ohmura (0-for-2, RBI) followed with a sac fly into left that made it 3-0.

Missed Opportunities
Buffaloes
5th: runner on second, 1 out > Hidaka flied out, runner on third, Sakaguchi flied out
6th: runner on third, 2 out > Shimoyama grounded out
7th: runners on first and third, 2 out > Kitagawa grounded out
8th: runner on second, 2 out > Shimoyama grounded out
9th: runners on first and second, 1 out > Abe GIDP

Eagles
3rd: runners on first and third, 2 out > Teppei grounded out
5th: runners on first and second, 1 out > N. Watanabe GIDP
7th: runners on first and second, 2 out > pinch hitter Shima grounded out
8th: runners on first and second, 1 out > T. Yamasaki fouled out to the catcher and Seguignol grounded out
9th: runners on first and third, 2 out > N. Watanabe grounded out

Buffaloes: 8 LOB, 1 DP
Eagles: 10 LOB, 2 DP

News
The Buffaloes outhit the Eagles, 8-6. ... The Eagles 4-game winning streak came to an end. ... Takagi picked up his first victory as a starter since June 26th, 2004. ... Takagi recorded 12 infield ground outs.

Orix Buffaloes

Rakuten Eagles

===

Yahoo Dome | Attendance: 34,336 | Time: 2h 59m | Marines lead series, 12-10-1

Shunsuke Watanabe finally managed to win a game by beating the Softbank Hawks, 5-3.

The Marines got off to a great start by scoring 3 runs in the top of the 1st:

Tsuyoshi Nishioka (1-for-5, R) and Hisao Heiuchi (1-for-5, R) started things off with back-to-back singles.  1 out later, Shoitsu Ohmatsu (2-for-4, R, RBI) followed with a run scoring single into center that put runners on first and second.  Tomoya Satozaki (0-for-2, 2 BB) walked to load the bases.  Tasuku Hashimoto (1-for-3, RBI) drove in another run with a single into right and Toshiaki Imae (1-for-4, RBI) made it 3-0 with a ground out to second.

An RBI double by Kazuya Fukuura (3-for-4, 2B, HR, R, 2 RBI) with a runner on third and 2 out in the top of the 2nd gave the Marines a 4-0 lead.

The Hawks answered back with single runs in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th innings:

2nd inning: Hiroki Kokubo (1-for-3, BB, R) and Hitoshi Tamura (1-for-3) led off the inning with singles that put runners on first and third and Yuya Hasegawa drove in the Hawks' first run with a ground out to second.
3rd inning: Munenori Kawasaki (2-for-3, HBP, BB, 2B, R) hit a 1-out double and came around to score on Nobuhiko Matsunaka's (1-for-5, RBI) single into left.
4th inning: Jose Ortiz (2-for-4, 2B, R) hit a 1-out double and 1 out later scored on Nobuhiko Matsuda's (2-for-4, RBI) single into center.

Fukuura's 5th home run of the year in the top of the 8th with 1 out gave the Marines their 5-3 lead.

Brian Sikorski entered the game in the bottom of the 9th and retired the first two batters in order.  And then came the trouble: he gave up a single to Matsuda, walked Yuichi Honda (0-for-4, BB), threw a wild pitch that put runners on second and third, and then walked Kawasaki to load the bases.  Fortunately for Marines fans, Sikorski was able to finish out the game by getting Matsunaka to line out to third.

Missed Opportunities
Marines
1st: runners on first and third, 2 out > Kakunaka struck out
2nd: runner on second, 2 out > Ohmatsu flied out
8th: bases loaded, 2 out > Minami struck out

Hawks
2nd: runners on first and second, 1 out > Tanoue flied out and Matsuda flied out
5th: runner on second, no out > Matsunaka flied out, runner on third, Kokubo walked, Tamura GIDP
9th: bases loaded, 2 out > Matsunaka lined out

Marines: 6 LOB, 2 DP
Hawks: 9 LOB, 2 DP

News
Both teams collected 10 hits. ... The Marines stopped their losing streak at 4 games. ... This was S. Watanabe's first victory since 7/31.

Chiba Lotte Marines

Softbank Hawks

===

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