Big Al comes through in big spot ...

Ramirez blasts Giants past BayStars

Tomokazu Oka was back in Tokyo Dome, and Alex Ramirez was back to old tricks on Friday night.
Oka, who spent time in the States, pitched his heart out, holding the Yomiuri Giants to a run over 6.2 innings. But the bullpen let the game slip away, as Ramirez bopped his 23rd longball with a man in the eighth on in a 3-1 win.
The shot, which came off former Giants Hiroki Sanada (2-4), broke a 1-1 tie and moved Ramirez into a tie atop the Central League.
The front-running Giants moved a season-best 15 games over .500, and was their sixth straight win over Yokohama.
Hayato Sakamoto started off the game for the Giants with a homer, his third career first-inning leadoff longball.
Dicky Gonzalez made the start and pitched one his best games of the season, going 7.1 innings and holding the BayStars to a run on six hits and three walks, while fanning three.
Yuya Kubo (5-0) got the win by striking out two in the eighth to get Gonzalez out of a jam. Marc Kroon cleaned up with three punchouts in the ninth for his 12th save.
Oka scattered nine hits and a walk, while fanning five for the last-place BayStars.

DRAGONS 3, CARP 1
Kazuki Yoshimi (7-3) outdueled budding all-star Kenta Maeda (9-3), holding Hiroshima to a run on four hits, and Tony Blanco clubbed a two-run homer as Chunichi won at Nagoya Dome.
Closer Hitoki Iwase worked a scoreless ninth to tie former Lotte stopper Masahide Kobayashi by collecting at least 20 saves for seven straight seasons.

TIGERS 9, SWALLOWS 4
CL leading hitter Matt Murton had three hits and an RBI, and Craig Brazell drove in a pair as Hanshin topped Yakult at Jingu Stadium.
Swallows starter Tony Barnette (3-5) got roughed up, surrendering seven runs in 2.2 innings.

PACIFIC LEAGUE

FIGHTERS 7, MARINES 3
Red-hot Eiichi Koyano, who came into Friday’s action hitting .429 the past week, homered and added two more hits to drive in five as Nippon Ham manhandled Lotte at Sapporo Dome.
Yoshio Itoi had three hits and two RBIs and took over the PL lead in batting at .350.

LIONS 7, BUFFALOES 3
Hiroyuki Nakajima had three hits, including his 10th homer, and Dee Brown also went deep as Seibu topped Orix at Seibu Dome.
Hideaki Wakui (10-3) went the distance, firing 141 pitches and holding the Buffaloes to three runs on seven hits, two walks and two hit batters, while fanning nine.

HAWKS 6, EAGLES 2, 10 innings
Hidenori Tanoue’s two-run double in the 10th inning lifted SoftBank past host Rakuten.