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.
ANFIELD BLUES: Kylian Mbappe arrived at Anfield on a run of 21 goals in 17 games, but he managed just three attempts in the match, none of them hitting the target Kylian Mbappe has been nearly unstoppable this season, but he hit a roadblock in their UEFA Champions League match at Anfield on Tuesday. For the second year running, the Real Madrid forward had a night to forget at Merseyside as Liverpool won 1-0. Mbappe looked a shadow of the player who has been tearing defenses apart all season. “We were lacking that threat in the final third,” said Madrid coach Xabi Alonso, without naming Mbappe individually. The FIFA World Cup winner for France rarely looked capable of finding a breakthrough against a Liverpool team who have been so defensively fragile for much of the
LOCAL SUCCESS: In the doubles, Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in straight sets Elena Rybakina on Monday punched her ticket to the WTA Finals last four with an impressive 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 victory over second seed Iga Swiatek in round-robin play in Riyadh. After cruising past Amanda Anisimova in her opener on Saturday, Rybakina claimed her second win of the week to guarantee herself top spot in the Serena Williams Group. Anisimova on Monday rallied back from a set and a break down to triumph 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in her all-American battle with seventh seed Madison Keys, who has been eliminated from the competition. “Madi was playing so well, it was quite a battle out there,”
Erling Haaland on Sunday scored twice to propel Manchester City up to second in the English Premier League with a 3-1 win over AFC Bournemouth. The Cherries started the day in second thanks to the longest unbeaten run in the English top flight, but Andoni Iraola’s side were undone by the scintillating form of the Norwegian striker, who took his tally to 13 Premier League goals in 10 games. Haaland’s relentless streak is maintaining City’s title challenge as they reduced the gap to leaders Arsenal back to six points and edged one point ahead of Liverpool, who they face at the weekend. “Important
For almost 30 minutes, Vitomir Maricic did not take a breath. Face down in a pool, surrounded by anxious onlookers, the Croatian freediver fought spasming pain to redefine what doctors thought was possible. When he finally surfaced, he had smashed the previous Guinness World Record for the longest breath-hold underwater by nearly five minutes. However, even with the help of pure oxygen before the attempt, it had pushed him to the limit. “Everything was difficult, just overwhelming,” Maricic, 40, told reporters, reflecting on the record-breaking day on June 14. “When I dive, I completely disconnect from everything, as if I’m not even there.
RSS