Nothing to show for it ...

Junji Ogawa took over on the bench for the Yakult Swallows and at least they didn’t lose.
The Rakuten Eagles’ Ryo Hijirisawa’s RBI single evened the score at 3-3, and it stayed that way for 12 innings on Thursday at Jingu Stadium. Yakult had lost nine straight coming in and have yet to win in interleague action.
Daisuke Kusano followed with a double, but Hijirisawa didn’t score, and neither team could put up a run in extra innings. The Eagles loaded the bases in the 12th inning, but Takeshi Yamasaki grounded out to end the inning.
The Swallows put two on in the bottom of the frame, but Masakazu Fukukawa grounded out to end the game.
Ogawa didn’t make wholesale changes to the lineup, and it only produced a three-run seventh inning, with the help of three walks. Ryuji Aikawa’s bases-loaded double was all the offense the Swallows could muster.
The Eagles outhit the Swallows 9-6, last year’s batting champ Teppei Tsuchiya leading the way with three hits.
Before the game, Swallows closer Lim Chong Yang was deactivated because of bad knee, and Takehiko Oshimoto gave up the tying run in the ninth.

GIANTS 5, HAWKS 2
Yoshinobu Takahashi blasted a pair of solo homers and Shugo Fujii (4-1) worked seven quiet innings, allowing just three hits and a walk, as Yomiuri stopped a three-game interleague skid to SoftBank.
Hisayoshi Chono chipped in with a two-run single in a three-run first that proved to be enough scoring for Fujii.

BUFFALOES 4, BAYSTARS 1
Tomotaka Sakaguchi had two hits and two RBIs from the No. 9 hole, and righty Chihiro Kaneko (4-4), who batted eighth, allowed one run -- none earned -- over 6.2 innings as Orix won at Yokohama.
T.O. (Takahiro Okada) put the B’s on top in the sixth with an RBI double after Mitsutaka Goto doubled in the tying run.

CARP 3, MARINES 0
Kenta Maeda (8-2) scattered four hits and four walks over eight innings, and Akihiro Higashide had three hits and an RBI as Hiroshima blanked Lotte at the Zoom.
Maeda is already one win from his career best -- in 19 games in 2008 -- in victories in a season.

LIONS 6, TIGERS 1
Hideaki Wakui (6-3) pitched out of trouble over eight innings, holding Hanshin to a run on five hits and four walks, and Hiroyuki Nakajima had two hits and two RBIs as Seibu swept its two-game set at Koshien Stadium.
Nakajima is tied for the PL lead in batting with a .360 average.

FIGHTERS 9, DRAGONS 5
Rookie right-hander Hirotoshi Masui (3-2) held the Dragons to six hits, and a walk while hitting a batter over six innings as Nippon Ham downed Chunichi in Kanazawa.
Yoshio Itoi had three hits and two RBIs to lead Nippon Ham’s 16-hit attack.