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Obispo shines in season debut

The Yomiuri Giants keep rolling, despite a rotation on shuffle mode.
The Giants brought up Wirfin Obispo from the farm club and handed the Dominican the ball for his first appearance of the season on Sunday, and the right-hander responded by tossing one-run ball over seven frames for an 8-2 win over visiting Hiroshima. Oh, and he slugged a solo homer and a double, to boot.
Obispo, who emerged late last season and played a big role in the Giants’ Japan Series title run, scattered six hits, a walk and a hit batter to win his fourth straight decision dating back to 2009.
Hot-hitting Michihiro Ogasawara went deep again, his Central League-leading eighth shot, for a two-run lead in the first inning, and Obispo went deep in the fourth. Yoshinobu Takahashi added a solo blast in the seventh for his first longball of the season and first since Sept. 23, 2008.
Obispo’s shot was the first homer by a foreign Giants pitcher since Balvino Galvez took one out on Aug. 28, 1999.

DRAGONS 8, TIGERS 5
Soma Yamauchi (1-0) cruised through six-plus innings for his first pro victory as the Chunichi topped Hanshin at Koshien Stadium.
Tony Blanco crushed a three-run homer, his seventh, in the first inning and rookie Yohei Oshima had three hits to back Yamauchi, who allowed four hits and two walks while fanning three.

BAYSTARS 3, SWALLOWS 2
Rookie right-hander Shigeru Kaga (1-2) earned his first pro win with five innings of one-run ball, and Tomohisa Takeyama’s fourth-inning two-run triple gave host Yokohama a second straight win over Yakult.

PACIFIC LEAGUE

MARINES 5, HAWKS 3
Fill-in Tomohisa Otani (1-0) came through with 3.1 scoreless frames after starter Hidetaka Kawagoe left with an injury, and Shoitsu Omatsu’s RBI double in the sixth inning propelled Lotte past visiting SoftBank.

LIONS 3, BUFFALOES 1
Takeya Nakamura slugged a two-run homer in the sixth inning and Kazuyuki Hoashi (3-2) held Orix to one run over 6.2 innings as Seibu won in Kobe.

EAGLES 4, FIGHTERS 3
Motohiro Shima ripped a two-run double in the sixth inning, and Masahiro Tanaka (3-2) allowed three runs, two earned, in six innings as Rakuten competed a three-game sweep of Nippon Ham at Kleenex Stadium Miyagi.