It’s not that lonely at the top ...

Dragons shoot down Giants

They say it’s lonely at the top, but opponents are really cramping the style of the three-time Central League defending champs.
Nelson Maximo carried a shutout inot the sixth inning, and Kazuhiro Wada homered and doubled to help the third-place Dragons shoot down the second-place Giants 3-2 Thursday at Tokyo Dome.
Nelson (1-0), in his third season in Japan, allowed six hits and three walks, surrending a two-run homer to light-hitting Ryota Wakiya before leaving with two out in the sixth.
The win left the Dragons just two games behind the Giants, who are a game back of the front-running Hanshin Tigers. Chunichi and Hanshin each have 50 wins, while Yomiuri has 51.
“I’m very happy and I want to keep doing what I can to contribute to the team,” said Nelson, who was suspended by the club for the first three months of the season because of a bullet found in his luggage when he entered the country for spring training.
He fired 99 pitches and fanned five in his first win as a starter, his longest outing as a Dragon.
“I just wanted to do like the pitching coach said, which was if I locate my pitches I can manage their power hitters,” said Nelson, who credited the four relievers who didn’t give up a hit to the final 12 batters.
“The pitchers behind me did a great job and that’s why I was able to get the win.”
Wada doubled and scored on Naomichi Donoue’s single in the second inning for an early 1-0 lead.
Wada blasted his 27th longbal -- off CL wins leader Shun Tono (11-3) -- with Masahiko Morino aboard in the six to make it 3-0 Dragons.
Wakiya’s third longball, a two-out shot after Yoshinobu Takahashi walked, closed out the scoring in the bottom of the inning.

SWALLOWS 9, CARP 3
Third-year righty Yoshinori Sato (6-6) tossed his first career complete game, firing 142 pitches to send Hiroshima to its eighth loss in nine games.
Yasushi Ihara homered and doubled to drive in two, and Josh Whitesell had two hits and two RBIs to back Sato and give the Swallows their fourth straight victory.

PACIFIC LEAGUE
LIONS 12, MARINES 6
Jose Fernandez sparked a comeback from five runs down by blasting a three-run homer in a six-run fourth as Seibu snapped a six-game slide by downing Lotte at Seibu Dome.

EAGLES 8, HAWKS 2
Takeshi Yamasaki hit his 19th blast, and Norihiro Nakamura and Randy Ruiz hit back-to-back solo shots as Rakuten halted SoftBank’s nine-game winning streak and its own five-game skid with a win at Fukuoka Yahoo! Japan Dome.

The Hanshin Tigers and Yokohama BayStars were rained out at Koshien, while the Orix Buffaloes-Nippon Ham Fighters’ game was washed out at Skymark Stadium.