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PDATE1: Giants' Houlton does it all in win over Swallows
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TOKYO, Aug. 11 (22:47) Kyodo
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(EDS: UPDATES WITH LATE GAMES)
D.J. Houlton hit his first home run as a professional and
pitched seven innings to lead the Yomiuri Giants to a 9-1 win over
the Yakult Swallows on Saturday at Tokyo Dome.
Houlton, whose last extra-base hit was a triple for Triple-A Las
Vegas in 2007, hit a solo homer in the second. The right-hander, who
turns 33 on Sunday, allowed a run on eight hits and a walk, while
striking out eight. He improved his record to 9-6.
His homer was the second of three by the Central League-leading
Giants, who are 7-0 with one tie since their last defeat on Aug. 2.
"I got really lucky," said Houlton of his home run. "I was just
going up there swinging. I didn't really know what I was doing. The
home run was a good birthday present for myself."
Shinnosuke Abe belted a two-run homer in the first inning off
Swallows starter Shohei Tateyama (6-8), who surrendered three runs in
the inning on two walks and four hits. Houlton led off the second
with his homer, and Yoshinobu Takahashi hit a grand slam in the fifth
to put the game away.
"The offense scored a lot of runs, so I was just able to throw
strikes and not worry about getting hit," Houlton said.
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Carp 2, Tigers 1
At Kyocera Dome, new Hiroshima signing Brad Eldred belted his
third homer in three games to bring the Carp from behind in a win
over Hanshin. With two outs and one on in the eighth, Eldred's fifth
homer trumped a fifth-inning solo shot by the Tigers' Hiroki Uemoto.
Carp starter Bryan Bullington allowed a run in six innings but
got no decision, while reliever Ryuji Yokoyama (1-0) earned his first
win in two years. Hanshin fell to 0-8 with one tie since the team
last won on Aug. 1.
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BayStars 9, Dragons 2
At Kose Sports Park Baseball Stadium, DeNA's Taketoshi Goto
belted a three-run homer and Yoshitomo Tsutsugo went 4-for-4 with two
RBIs in his first action since being hit by a pitch on July 27 as the
BayStars walloped Chunichi.
BayStars starter Yuki Kuniyoshi (2-7) allowed two runs in seven
innings, while DeNA tattooed Dragons starter Shinji Iwata (4-3) for
five runs in six innings.
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Pacific League
Hawks 2, Eagles 1
At Yahoo Dome, Softbank southpaw Kenji Otonari (10-4) allowed a
run on two hits in seven innings to reach double digits in wins for
the first time in four years and the Hawks came from behind to halt
Rakuten's winning streak at three.
Softbank, which had just four hits, tied it in the bottom of the
fifth on a hit batsman, a single and a throwing error. Yuichi Honda
set up the go-ahead run in the sixth with a leadoff walk and a stolen
base. Seiichi Uchikawa singled him home off unlucky loser Kelvin
Jimenez (5-9).
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Fighters 3, Lions 0
At Seibu Dome, Nippon Ham's Mitsuo Yoshikawa (9-4) threw a
two-hitter against Seibu for his first shutout in five years. The
lefty's good fastball and sharp control saw him strike out eight
without issuing a walk. The victory moved the Pacific League-leading
Fighters two games clear of second-place Lotte.
Taiwan international Yang Dai-kang opened the game with a double
and scored on a double-play ground ball. Sho Tanaka's one-out single
and a double by Eiichi Koyano set the table in the fourth, when
Kenshi Sugiya delivered a sacrifice fly and Shinya Tsuruoka's double
made it 3-0.
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Buffaloes 4, Marines 0
At QVC Marine Field, Satoshi Komatsu (2-2) worked five innings
and three relievers completed the shutout as Orix snapped a five-game
winless streak with a win over second-place Lotte. Komatsu's victory
was his first as a starter in two seasons.
The Buffaloes scored four runs off Doug Mathis (0-1) in his
5-2/3 inning Japan debut for the Marines. Takahiro Okada opened the
scoring with a first-inning RBI single. Former Marine Naotaka
Takehara, Lee Dae Ho and Bobby Scales each singled in a run in the
fourth, fifth and sixth innings, respectively. |
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