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LEAD: Chunichi hammers Yakult to cut magic number to 1
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TOKYO, Oct. 9 Kyodo
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(EDS: UPDATING WITH CHUNICHI-YAKULT GAME, CHANGING DATELINE)
Hirokazu Ibata hit a two-run homer and Tyrone Woods added a
grand slam to lead an 11-hit attack as the Chunichi Dragons closed in
on the Central League title with a 10-1 drubbing of the Yakult
Swallows on Monday.
Backed by ample run support, right-hander Kenichi Nakata (7-4)
limited Yakult to a run over six innings despite struggling with his
control at Jingu Stadium, helping the Dragons cut their magic number
for winning the league championship to one.
Chunichi went ahead in the third with Ibata's two-out homer and
sent 11 batters to the plate in an eight-run fourth, capped by Woods'
bases-loaded shot that followed consecutive RBI hits by Hidenori
Kuramoto, Motonobu Tanishige and Nakata.
Woods increased his league-leading home run tally to 45.
Nakata allowed four hits, walked four and hit a batter while
striking out four. Masanori Ishikawa (10-9) lasted only 3-1/3 innings
and was charged with seven runs on seven hits and a walk.
Akinori Iwamura drove in the only run for the Swallows with a
fifth-inning sacrifice fly.
The Dragons can clinch their seventh CL title and first in two
years Tuesday when they meet the Yomiuri Giants at Tokyo Dome.
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BayStars 5, Carp 3
Shuichi Murata ignited the offense with a homer and Daisuke
Miura worked six effective innings, leading Yokohama over Hiroshima.
Murata hit a leadoff homer off Masayuki Hasegawa (1-3) in a
two-run second inning and Yokohama made it 5-0 in the fourth on RBI
hits by Ryoji Aikawa and Miura en route to securing a winning record
against Hiroshima this season.
Miura (8-12) earned his first win since Aug. 2 after giving up
three runs on six hits and Marc Kroon got his 27th save. Jun Hirose
homered and Tomonori Maeda hit an RBI double for visiting Hiroshima.
Monday's results mean that Yakult, Yomiuri, Hiroshima and
Yokohama will finish the CL season in third, fourth, fifth and last
places in that order.
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