Hara celebrates in style ...

Giants rout Lions to give skipper 500th victory

What a roll. The Yomiuri Giants rolled past the Pacific League-leading Seibu Lions 9-1 on Thursday at Tokyo Dome and skipper Tatsunori Hara has now rolled up 500 wins.
It has taken the former Yomiuri star less than seven full seasons, and the milestone victory came in typical Giants fashion: a gaudy 13-hit game that featured four homers from the home team.
Hara, though, took the interleague game ball and hurled it into the stands, saying his number of wins is “because of everyone.”
Hara joins Tetsuharu Kawakami (1,066), Shigeo Nagashima (1,034) Shigeru Mizuhara (881) and Motoshi Fujita (516) as the only Yomiuri managers with at least 500 victories.
Alex Ramirez, one big fly away from 300 in his career, didn’t go deep on Thursday, but he had two hits and an RBI, while Edgar Gonzalez added two hits, including his first homer in Japan.
Hayato Sakamoto went deep twice and had three RBIs.

DRAGONS 3, HAWKS 1
Chen Wei-yin (2-4) allowed one run over seven innings and drove in the go-ahead run as host Chunichi opened the sixth year of interleague play by winning their first two against the PL for the first time.

FIGHTERS 8, TIGERS 4
Atsunori Inaba got Nippon Ham going with a two-run homer in the first inning, and added a two-run double in the seventh as the Fighters pulled away to top Hanshin at Koshien Stadium for its fifth straight win.
Kensuke Tanaka had four hits and two RBIs for the Fighters, who have won five straight.

EAGLES 6, CARP 4
Marty Brown returned to his old stomping ground as player and -- the last four years -- as manager and got a win behind three hits and four RBIs by Andy Phillips (who was with Hiroshima last season).
The Eagles put up six runs in two innings and held off the Carp at the Zoom.

MARINES 14, BAYSTARS 6
Tomokazu Oka left the mound with a one-run lead after five innings, but pinch-hitter Kazuya Fukuura’s grand slam -- overturned using video replay -- in the sixth inning to help lift Lotte past host Yokohama.
The Marines, who moved back into first place in the PL, slugged four longballs to send the BayStars to their fourth straight loss.

BUFFALOES 9, SWALLOWS 2
Alex Cabrera hit a grand slam and drove in a Japan-career-best seven to lead Orix over Yakult at Jingu Stadium for its third straight win.
Cabrera upped his average to .408.