Bang, boom, bam …

Ramirez, Giants top night of the longball

It was the night of 1,000 runs, and Alex Ramirez and the Yomiuri Giants ran away.
Ramirez hit three longballs in one game for the first time in his 10-plus years in Japan, and the Giants tied a franchise record with eight homers in a 12-9 win over the Hiroshima Carp at the Zoom.
Ryota Wakiya cracked his third, Shinnosuke Abe hit his 25th, Edgar Gonzalez, with his parents visiting, smacked his third – his second in three games -- Hayato Sakamoto had his 15th, and rookie Hisayoshi Chono hit his 10th.
Ramirez, who moved into a tie for the Central League lead with his 26th homer, went 4-for-5 with a double and four RBIs.
The big scoring backed Shun Tono (10-2), who tied for the Central League lead with his career-best 10th win.
Tono wasn’t exactly sharp, allowing six hits and three walks with no strikeouts over five innings.
Marc Kroon closed it out, after the Carp scored four in the eighth inning, with a perfect ninth for his 13th save.

TIGERS 11, DRAGONS 5
Craig Brazell belted three homers in consecutive at-bats and added a single for a 4-for-4 night as Hanshin beat Chunichi senseless at Koshien Stadium.
Takahiro Arai hit his 10 th and and Kenji Jojima smacked his 12th to back Jason Standridge (4-1), who allowed a run in seven innings.

SWALLOWS 10, BAYSTARS 0
Hiroyasu Tanaka had three hits, including a triple, and three RBIs, and newcomer Josh Whitesell hit his second homer in three games as Yakult smothered host Yokohama.
Kyohei Tanaka (5-6) scattered seven hits and two walks, while punching out five over eight innings for the win.

PACIFIC LEAGUE

HAWKS 19, LOTTE 1
Satoru Morimoto went 4-for6 with a homer and a double to lead a 23-hit attack as Fukuoka drubbed scuffling Lotte at Chiba Marines Stadium.
Nobuhiro Matsuda had three hits, including his seventh homer, and four RBIs, to back lefty Toshiya Sugiuchi (10-3) as the Hawks sent the Marines to their season-high fourth straight loss.
The Hawks batted around in the fifth, scoring 10 runs on nine hits, including Jose Ortiz’s 18th shot.


BUFFALOES 3, EAGLES 0
Mitsutaka Goto ripped a three-run, first-inning shot, and Hiroshi Kisanuki (8-5) tossed a four-hitter for his first shutout in seven years as Orix blanked visiting Rakuten.

FIGHTERS 6, LIONS 4
Atsunori Inaba homered and drove in two as Nippon Ham took an early lead and held off host Saitama.