Giant steps …

Yomiuri moves into 1st place

Michihiro Ogasawara was a one-man gang, and he might have just helped Yomiuri flick away the last pest as the Giants yawn and stretch and stomp toward a fourth straight Central League title.
Certainly titles aren’t won in April, but frontrunners are formed, and Ogasawara punished pennant-seeking Chunichi in the finale of a three-game series with a pair of two-run doubles in a 7-1 win over the Dragons on Sunday at Tokyo Dome.
Shun Tono (2-1) scattered seven hits and a walk, while punching out nine to earn a win that put the Giants alone in first place, a game ahead of Chunichi.
Ogasawara tore up the Dragons in the three-game series, going 7-for-11 with two homers and RBIs.

BAYSTARS 6, CARP 3
Shuichi Murata’s first hit in 22 trips to the plate was an RBI single in the first inning, and Seiichi Uchikawa homered and drove in three as Yokohama downed visiting Hiroshima for its first series victory this season.
Hiroshima’s Tomonori Maeda hit his first homer in two years with a pinch-hit shot off closer Shun Yamaguchi in the ninth.

TIGERS 7, SWALLOWS 3
Tomoaki Kanemoto hit a two-run homer, the 445th of his career to surpass former Yomiuri great Shigeo Nagashima, to lead Hanshin past Yakult at Koshien Stadium.

PACIFIC LEAGUE

MARINES 11, LIONS 0
Shingo Ono (2-0) allowed three hits and seven walks, and Tadahito Iguchi had three hits and two RBIs as Lotte blanked Seibu at Chiba Marine Stadium.
Toshiaki Imae cracked a two-run blast to cap a seven-run eighth inning that put the game away.

FIGHTERS 4, HAWKS 1
Kensuke Tanaka had an RBI triple and a two-run homer, and five relievers preserved the lead over four innings for Masaru Takeda (1-1) as Nippon Ham won its series against SoftBank at Fukuoka Yahoo! Japan Dome.
The victory gave Nippon Ham its first series win of the season.

EAGLES 4, BUFFALOES 1
Masahiro Tanaka (2-1) scattered six hits and a walk with seven strikeouts, and Takeshi Yamasaki’s RBI single in the sixth inning broke a 1-1 tie as Rakuten topped Orix for its second straight series win.