Smoking hot ...

Dragons get hot late

The Chunichi Dragons spent much of Wednesday blowing smoke at Nagoya Dome. They caught a little bit of fire in the bottom of the ninth.
Hanshin’s Craig Brazell fielded pinch-hitter Takehiro Donoue’s bases-loaded bouncer and launched it over catcher Kenji Jojima’s head, allowing the winning run to score for a 1-0 Chunichi walk-off win.
With one out, the infield in and Atsushi Fujii at third, Donoue’s little tapper probably would have scored the run. But Brazell couldn’t make the play close, double-clutching and then throwing high while running toward home.
The win kept the Dragons 2.5 games up on the Central League’s second-place team, which became the Yomiuri Giants as the Tigers fell into third.
The Tigers fell to 1-10 at Chunichi’s dome and haven’t scored a run there in 30 innings. The Dragons are 14-3-1 this month with a team ERA of 1.63.
Three straight hits loaded the bases for Chunichi in the bottom of the ninth before Tony Blanco fanned. Donoue, hitting for reliever Takuya Asao (12-3), got some words of advice before stepping in against Kyuji Fujikawa.
His tapper was weak, but effective, giving the Dragons their club-record 12th walk-off win this season. It was their 11th consecutive win at home, their second double-digit winning streak at the dome this season.
Daisuke Yamai walked away with no decision after 7.2 scoreless innings. Hanshin’s Yoshitomo Kubo worked eight scoreless, scattering three hits and a hit batter, while fanning five but didn't get a decision.
Asao set a club record with his 70th appearance, and won his sixth straight decision as the Dragons recorded their fourth shutout this month.

GIANTS 6, BAYSTARS 2
A night after hitting a walk-off blast, Hayato Sakamoto picked up where he left off, going 4-for-5 with a homer in his first at-bat and adding a double and two RBIs as three-time defending CL champion Yomiuri kept its slim hopes for a fourth straight league title alive.
Yoshinobu Takahashi also homered in support of Tetsuya Utsumi (10-8), who carried a shutout into the ninth before allowing two runs. He left after 8.2 innings, allowing nine hits and three walks, while punching out six.

SWALLOWS 5, CARP 4
Kazuhiro Hatakeyama’s two-RBI single in the sixth inning help lift Yakult to a comeback win over Hiroshima at The Zoom.

PACIFIC LEAGUE
EAGLES 3, FIGHTERS 1
Akihisa Makida’s solo blast in the fifth gave Rakuten the lead and Ryo Hijirizawa also went deep in the sixth with the bases empty as the Eagles downed Nippon Ham at Sapporo Dome.
The loss meant the Fighters were mathematically eliminated from the PL title race.
The SoftBank Hawks clinched a Climax Series playoff spot by virtue of fourth-place Nippon Ham’s loss.