Getting Buff ...

B’s rally past Giants, into share of interleague lead

The Pacific League has been beating the Central League like Buddy Rich used to pound the drums -- a 71-47 record before Thursday’s game.
The CL-leading Yomiuri Giants have barely escaped the dominance, with a 12-10 mark against the PL, but the Orix Buffaloes stole one from visiting Yomiuri 4-2 on Aarom Baldiris’ two-run single in the eighth inning.
The Buffaloes took advantage of an error on Daisuke Ochi (2-2) to rally for three runs, capped when Baldiris rolled a single through the left side with two outs.
The win boosted them into a share of the interleague lead with the Seibu Lions, who fell at home to Hanshin.
Relievers Keiichi Hirano and Mamoru Kishda faced the minimum after taking over for Satoshi Komatsu. Hirano (4-1) threw 1.1 innings for the win, and Kishda, a fifth-year righty, fanned two in the ninth for his first pro save.
The Giants scored their runs in the first inning and had runners on base in just two times from the second on, wasting a bases-loaded chance in the seventh.

CARP 12, MARINES 7, 12 innings
Soichiro Amaya’s bases-loaded single broke a 7-7 tie, and veteran Takuro Ishii followed with a bases-clearing double to center as Hiroshima outlasted Lotte in 12 innings at Chiba Marine Stadium.
The 5-hour 18-minute marathon featured a combined 16 pitchers, eight for each side, and 32 hits. The Carp scored twice in the ninth off M’s closer Hiroyuki Kobayashi to send the game into extras.
The Marines take on the Tigers for two at home over the weekend, while the Lions play host to the Carp with the interleague championship on the line.

SWALLOWS 6, FIGHTERS 4
Ryuji Aikawa blasted his fourth interleague homer and added an RBI single, and one of Yuji Onizaki’s two hits was his first longball of the season as Yakult topped Nippon Ham at Sapporo Dome.

TIGERS 8, LIONS 4
Kenji Jojima had three hits, including a homer, and two RBIs, and Takahiro Arai homered and drove in two as Hanshin beat up Kazuhisa Ishii (6-4) and host Seibu.

DRAGONS 7, EAGLES 2
Kazuhiro Wada had three hits, including a pair of doubles, to raise his average to .373, and Kei Nomoto added two hits and two RBIs as Chunichi cruised at the Kleenex Box.

HAWKS 10, BAYSTARS 5
Hitoshi Tamura and Roberto Petagine each drove in runs in a pair of runs in two five-run innings that propelled SoftBank past visiting Yokohama.

No games on Friday.