Graduation day ...

Tigers teen tosses shutout

The Hanshin Tigers have had to turn to a teen pitcher in a time of crisis.
And 19-year-old rookie Takumi Akiyama came up big on Sunday, tossing a four-hitter for his first career complete game in a 5-0 whitewash of the Yakult Swallows at Koshien Stadium.
The right-hander fired 93 just pitches, fanning three and walking none to become just the third rookie straight out of high school to throw a shutout in franchise history.
Akiyama (3-1) lowered his ERA to 2.72 in four starts this season, scattering four hits and getting a pair of double plays over the final two innings.
Takashi Toritani doubled in a run in the first, and Takahiro Arai followed with an RBI single to get Akiyama the lead.
Kyohei Muranaka (10-8) wasn’t sharp, allowing nine hits and four runs -- three earned -- with a walk, a hit batter and three strikeouts in 6.2 innings.
Akiyama helped his own cause with an RBI single in the seventh, and Kenji Jojima doubled twice and drove in a run for Hanshin, which stayed 1.5 games behind front-running Chunichi in the Central League.

DRAGONS5, BAYSTARS 2
Masahiko Morino went 4-for-4 with a three-run homer in the first and an RBI single in the seventh to lead first-place Chunichi past visiting Yokohama.
Set-up man Takuya Asao worked a scoreless eighth to set an NPB record with his 56th consecutive hold point.
Kenichi Nakata (6-3) went six innings for the win.

GIANTS 5, CARP 1
Hayato Sakamoto belted his 29th homer and added an RBI double, and Dicky Gonzalez (5-10) won Yomiuri’s first game by a starter in 13 contests as the Giants topped Hiroshima at Tokyo Dome.
Sakamoto set a club record for home runs by a Giants leadoff batter.

PACIFIC LEAGUE
LIONS 13, MARINES 4
Hisashi Takayama had four hits, including a homer and four RBIs to lead Seibu past visiting Lotte.
The Lions reduced their magic number to seven.

HAWKS 2, FIGHTERS 0
Kenji Otonari (4-8) surrendered two hits and fanned nine over seven innings as SoftBank blanked visiting Nippon Ham.
Munenori Kawasaki had two hits and an RBI for the second-place Hawks.

EAGLES 9, BUFFALOES 4
Teppei Tsuchiya had four hits, including his ninth homer, and three RBIs as host Rakuten downed Orix.