Tighter than ever ...

Dragons keep string going, top Giants

Tony Blanco made a triumphant return, Chen Wei-yin returned to last-season’s form and the Chunichi Dragons smoked the Yomiuri Giants 6-1 on Tuesday at Nagoya Dome.
Blanco, who was activated for the series after a slump landed him on the farm team, slugged his 24th homer -- a three-run shot in the fourth -- and Chen fired eight innings of one-run ball as the Dragons won their fifth straight overall and 10th in a row at home.
The Dragons also moved a season-best nine games over .500, and trail the Central League’s second-place Giants by a game and the front-running Hanshin Tigers by 2.5 games.
Chunichi sent Yomiuri starter Seth Greisinger (0-1), in his second start this season after elbow surgery, to his first loss.
The righty allowed six hits and a walk before being chased after five innings.
Chen (10-9) limited the hard-hitting Giants to three hits, while walking one and fanning eight in one of his best outings this year to earn his career-high 10th win.
The CL’s leading hitter, Kazuhiro Wada went 3-for-4 with a homer and matched last year’s homer total by cracking his 29th. His career high is 33, which the 14th-year veteran hit in 2002 while with the Seibu Lions and Wada raised his average to .361.

TIGERS 12, BAYSTARS 8
Craig Brazell’s sac fly completed a Hanshin comeback, breaking an 8-8 tie, and rookie Shunsuke Fujikawa followed by capping a four-run ninth inning with a his first pro homer-- a three-run shot -- in a win over host Yokohama
Takahiro Arai also had a three-run blast for the Tigers to go with Fujikawa, who homered on his birthday.

CARP 2, SWALLOWS 1, 10 INNINGS
Junpei Shinoda’s eight innings of shutout pitching went to waste when he allowed a ninth-inning solo shot, but Soichiro Amaya’s infield RBI single lifted Hiroshima to a sayonara extra-inning win over visiting Yakult.
Ryuji Yokoyama (2-1) swooped in to get the win with a scoreless 10th.

PACIFIC LEAGUE
HAWKS 5, LIONS 4
Munenori Kawasaki got SoftBank even with an eighth-inning RBI double, and Nobuhiro Matsuda tripled him in for the game-winner in a win over host Seibu.
The Lions failed to win their ninth straight.

BUFFALOES 3, EAGLES 0
Chihiro Kaneko (12-7) went the distance on a four-hitter to win his eighth straight decision and earn his career-best 12th victory as Orix blanked visiting Rakuten.

MARINES 3, FIGHTERS 2
Tadahito Iguchi slugged a tie-breaking solo homer in the eighth, and drove in all three runs as Lotte edged host Nippon Ham at Tokyo Dome.