Tyrone Woods hit his 41st homer of the season Friday as the Yokohama BayStars downed the Yakult Swallows 6-4.
Woods connected for a solo homer in the first inning when the BayStars jumped out to a 4-0 lead at Yokohama Stadium. The Florida native is now just one homer behind Tuffy Rhodes of the Yomiuri Giants in the Central League home run race.
Takahiro Saeki and Ryoji Aikawa also hit home runs for the BayStars.
Yokohama starter Cedrick Bowers picked up the win after striking out 12 and giving up four runs on seven hits over seven innings. Ken Kadokura retired the side in the ninth inning for his third save of the season.
Yakult starter Yuya Kamata took the loss after giving up six runs on eight hits over four innings.
At Hiroshima Stadium, Motonobu Tanishige hit a solo homer in the seventh inning to lift the league-leading Chunichi Dragons to a 2-0 win over the Hiroshima Carp.
Chunichi starter Domingo Guzman picked up the win after holding the Carp to two hits over seven scoreless innings.
With the win, Chunichi opened up a six-game lead over the idle Yomiuri Giants in the standings.
In the Pacific League, Hiroshi Shibahara drove in a pair of runs with a bases-loaded single in the seventh inning to lift the first-place Daiei Hawks to a 6-4 win over the Kintetsu Buffaloes at Osaka Dome.
At Sapporo Dome, Kuniyuki Kimoto singled in the winning run with two out in the bottom of the 10th inning to lift the Nippon Ham Fighters to a 3-2 win over the Seibu Lions.
Watanabe seeks harmony
In the latest twist to Japanese baseball's ongoing realignment crises, Pacific League president Tadao Koike said Friday that Yomiuri Giants' former owner Tsuneo Watanabe has suggested moving his team to the Pacific League.
Watanabe proposed the move as a way of keeping a balance between the two leagues should the Pacific League be reduced to four teams as a result of a merger between the Orix BlueWave and the Kintetsu Buffaloes.
Moving the Giants to the Pacific League would leave both the Central and Pacific Leagues with five teams if the merger goes through.
Japan's baseball owners are expected to approve the merger at a meeting on Sept. 8.
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