Master Randolph ...

BayStars lefty tops Dragons again

A dynamic duo went medieval on the Chunichi Dragons on Thursday night at Nagoya Dome.
Terrmel Sledge played the role of batman, slamming a pair of homers, and southpaw Stephen Randolph was Robin went six strong innings in a 5-2 Central League win. Randolph ate up the Dragons last season, and he returned to the first team on Friday by chewed them up again. He held them to a run on three hits and three walks, while fanning a half-dozen. Randolph (1-6), who was 2-0 with a 0.44 ERA in three starts vs. the Dragons last year, is 3-1 in about one year with Yokohama. He stopped a personal six-game slide.
Sledge, who last year had six hits at Nagoya Dome -- three of them homers -- hit a pair off Chen Wei-yin (4-7) to improve on his .333 average at the dome.
“I like this place, so hopefully we can play here every day. It was good for the team. We’ve been struggling a lot, so it was good for me to come out and have a game like this,” said Sledge, who hit a solo blast, a two-run shot (hit 16th) and added an RBI double.
“He (Randolph) should be up here, too,” Sledge said during the postgame interview. “He’s a hero. He came back from an injury to pitch great like that.”
The Donoue brothers each accounted for the Dragons’ runs. Naomichi started at second and had an RBI double in the fifth, while Takehiro came on as a pinch-hitter in the seventh and had an RBI single.

GIANTS 4, SWALLOWS 1
Alex Ramirez blasted a pair of solo homers to move into a tie for the CL lead at 22 as Yomiuri topped Yakult at Jingu Stadium.
Rookie Hisayoshi Chono belted his ninth homer, a two-run shot in a three-run sixth.

PACIFIC LEAGUE

EAGLES 6, LIONS 2
Second-year righty Ryohei Isaka (2-1) held first-place Seibu to two run on six hits in his first career complete game as Rakuten won at the Kleenex Box.
Yosuke Takasu had a breakout game with three hits, including his fourth homer, and five RBIs.

MARINES 6, BUFFALOES 2
Shoitsu Omatsu got Lotte an early lead with a two-run, first-inning double, and Shunsuke Watanabe (5-3) held Orix to a run over five innings and the Marines cruised at Chiba Marine Stadium.
Lotte’s Tadahito Iguchi went deep as did Kim Kyung Tae, cracking his 17th.

HAWKS 6, FIGHTERS 1
Roberto Petagine’s RBI single sparked a four-run fourth, and rookie Hiroki Yamada (1-1) scattered six hits, a walk and a hit batter over 8.1 innings for his first pro win as SoftBank halted Nippon Ham’s six-game winning streak.
Nippon Ham’s Kensuke Tanaka went 0-for-4 to see his 22-game hitting streak end.