Blown away again …

Dragons improve to 9-1 vs. Tigers at Nagoya Dome

Matt Murton doubled to lead off the game. That turned out to be the Hanshin Tigers’ best scoring chance all night.
Chen Wei-yin shut them down on four hits and two walks over eight innings, and the Dragons got just enough offense to blank Hanshin 3-0 on Tuesday and be the first team in Japan to book a spot in the Climax Series playoffs.
Chen (13-10) fanned five to extend his personal scoreless string to 18 consecutive innings and give front-running Chunichi a 9-1 record against Hanshin at Nagoya Dome.
Chen got out of that first-inning jam, not allowing a runner to reach third and the Dragons are in the playoffs for the fourth straight year.
“I just tried to use my hard stuff to get through the situation,” Chen said. “My fastball was working best.”
The Dragons have five games remaining, while the Tigers have 12, two against third-place the Yomiuri Giants.
Kei Nomoto was 2-for-2, including a fourth-inning sac fly for the game’s first run and an RBI single in the sixth.
“We can’t afford to lose these games, so we just have to go out and get it done,” Nomoto said.
Kazuhiro Wada had three hits and scored twice for the Dragons, who are 2.5 games up on the Tigers.
Jason Standridge (10-4) pitched well in the loss. He held the Dragons to two runs on seven hits and no walks over seven innings.
Hitoki Iwase got the final out for his 41st save.

GIANTS 4, BAYSTARS 3, 12 INNINGS
Hayato Sakamoto slugged his third walk-off homer of the season to lift Yomiuri past visiting Yokohama.
It was Sakamoto’s 30th homer, making the Giants the fifth team in NPB history with four players hitting at least 30 longballs.
The Giants also pulled into a virtual tie with the Tigers for second.

CARP 5, SWALLOWS 2
Kenta Kurihara’s second homer in as many nights -- hits second of the evening -- a solo blast in the eighth, broke a 2-2 tie and sparked a three-run inning as Hiroshima came back to top Yakult at The Zoom for its and fifth straight win.

PACIFIC LEAGUE
FIGHTERS 4, BUFFALOES 1
Yuji Iiyama had four hits -- his first four-hit game in three years and second of his career -- and knocked in two runs, including the eventual game-winning run in the eighth as Nippon Ham won at Sapporo Dome.
The Fighters, who saw closer Hisashi Takeda allow four hits and two runs in the ninth before holding on for his 18th save, remained tied for the third and final playoff spot.

MARINES 12, EAGLES 2
A day after struggling to snap its 16-game skid at The Kleenex Box, Lotte got three hits each from Tsuyoshi Nishioka and Tadahito Iguchi in a 17-hit attack for a rout of Rakuten.
It was Nishioka’s 26th game with at least three hits, tying him with Ichiro Suzuki for the most three-or-more hit games in one season.