What a difference ...

Giants move back into 1st

Less than a week ago, the Yomiuri Giants had fallen into third place in the Central League and were kicking themselves.
After beating the Chunichi Dragons 6-4 on Tuesday at Tokyo Dome, the three-time defending league champs were kicking back and enjoying the view from first place.
Yomiuri's fourth consecutive victory, coupled with the Hanshin Tigers’ loss, put the Giants back atop the standings.
Michihiro “Guts” Ogasawara busted up a tie with his 26th homer, a solo blast, and rookie Hisayoshi Chono collected his third hit--an RBI single--in a two-run eighth that lifted the Giants past Chunichi.
“I just wanted to take good swings and happened to get a hold of that one,” said Ogasawara, who is four longballs from hitting the 30 mark for the sixth straight season.
It wasn’t all good news for the Giants. Starter Seth Greisinger allowed four runs in the fifth inning, lasting 4.2 frames before departing. The trainer came out to the mound after Tony Blanco led off with a loud solo shot, and Kei Nomoto made a loud out on a one-hopper to second base.
Greisinger stayed in and got one more out before letting the Dragons tie the score at 4-4.
Yomiuri skipper Tatsunori Hara refused to give details of why he removed the right-hander, who is coming off elbow surgery in the offseason.
Chunichi skipper Hiromitsu Ochiai got the thumb in the fifth when he argued a close play at first base for more than the five-minute limit.
The Dragons, who moved into second place with a three-game sweep of the Giants last week, are in third, 4.5 games ahead of Yakult in the race the third and final Climax Series spot.

CARP 6, TIGERS 5
Shigenobu Shima took Hanshin closer Kyuji Fujikawa (3-2) deep with one out in the ninth inning, and Ryuji Yokoyama put the tying and go-ahead runs on before recording his sixth save as Hiroshima won at Koshien Stadium.
The Tigers fell out of at least a tie for first place for the first time since Aug. 14.

SWALLOWS 13, BAYSTARS 5
Josh Whitesell had two hits, including his 11th homer, and drove in a pair of runs, and visiting Yokohama contributed two big errors as Yakult won a laugher at home to get back to .500 after being as many as 19 games under in June.

PACIFIC LEAGUE
MARINES 9, LIONS 2
Kazuya Fukuura had a tie-breaking two-run single in a five-run fifth, and Saburo Omura capped the rally with his 16th longball, a two-run shot as host Lotte routed front-running Seibu.
The Marines moved to within two games of the top spot after the Lions lost for the sixth time in eight games.
Seibu’s Yasuyuki Kataoka became the fifth player to steal 50 bases over three straight seasons when he swiped second in the first inning.

HAWKS 5, BUFFALOES 4
Hitoshi Tamura slugged his first grand slam since 2004 when he was with Yokohama--and just the second of his 16-year career, as SoftBank edged Orix at Fukuoka Yahoo! Japan Dome to move to within a half-game of the top spot.
Tamura reached the 20-homer mark for the first time in five years to back D.J. Houlton (7-6), who won for the first time since July 19.

EAGLES 4, FIGHTERS 1
Hisashi Iwakuma (8-8) scattered four hits over eight innings, and Takeshi Yamasaki knocked in a pair of runs as Rakuten topped visiting Nippon Ham.
It was victory No. 99 for Iwakuma.