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Arias and Kenichiro lead the Tigers past hapless Swallows

George Arias and Kenichiro Hayakawa both connected for two-run homers Friday to lead the Hanshin Tigers to a 8-0 victory over the Yakult Swallows.

Arias, who homered in twice in Thursday's 11-0 win over the Yomiuri Giants, connected off of Yakult starter Masanori Ishikawa in the bottom of the second inning at Koshien Stadium to get the Tigers on the scoreboard.

"It feels good," said Arias, who has seven RBIs in the last two games. "I'm seeing the ball good right now and hopefully it will continue tomorrow and for the rest of the season."

Hayakawa gave the Tigers an 8-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth with a towering blast that cleared the wall in center field. It was Hayakawa's first homer of the season.

Hanshin starter Tsuyoshi Shimoyangi tossed a three-hitter over the distance and struck out 11 to pick up his first complete-game shutout in two years.

The Tigers hold a commanding 14-1/2-game lead over the Giants in the standings. Their magic number to clinch the pennant was cut to 13 with Friday's win.

Giants 5, carp 2

In Hiroshima, Yoshinori Murata and Kazuhiro Kiyohara both hit solo homers to power the Yomiuri Giants to a 5-2 win over the Hiroshima Carp.

Koji Uehara struck out nine and gave up two runs on seven hits over the distance to improve to 13-3 on the season.

At Nagoya Dome, Tatsuhiko Kinjo connected for a solo homer in the top of the fifth inning to lead the Yokohama BayStars to a 4-2 win over the Chunichi Dragons.

Yokohama starter Daisuke Miura picked up the win after holding the Dragons to two runs on five hits over seven innings.

Marines 10, Hawks 4

In the Pacific League, Saburo Omura and Kazuya Fukuura both hit two-run homers as the Lotte Marines upset the front-running Daiei Hawks 10-4 at Chiba Marine Stadium.

Nobuhiko Matsunaka belted a solo homer for Daiei in the top of the sixth. The Hawks hold a six-game lead over the Seibu Lions in the standings.

At Seibu Dome, Tomoaki Sato belted a two-run homer and Scott McClain added a solo blast as the Seibu Lions scored four runs in the seventh inning on their way to a 7-3 victory over the Orix BlueWave.

Kenichi Toriyabe tossed a two-hitter over five scoreless innings to pick up his first professional win in his first start. Kiyoshi Toyoda recorded the final out of the game to pick up his 100th career save.

At Osaka Dome, Hisashi Iwakuma gave up one run on three hits over seven innings to lead the Kintetsu Buffaloes to an 8-3 win over the Nippon Ham Fighters. Norihiro Nakamura belted a solo homer in the second inning and Koichi Isobe added a two-run blast in the fifth to give the Buffaloes an 8-1 lead.

For the Nippon Professional Baseball League standings, check the Scoreboad below.
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