TOKYO (Kyodo) — Takumi Oshiro hit a game-tying two-run homer as the Yomiuri Giants overcame an early deficit to beat the DeNA BayStars 5-4 in the Central League Thursday and win the last two games of their three-game series.
Trailing 3-1 at Tokyo Dome, Oshiro, a reserve catcher on Japan’s World Baseball Classic championship team, blasted his seventh home run of the season off BayStars starter Katsuki Azuma (4-2) to tie it in the fifth.
New Giants import Lewis Brinson went 3-for-4 and singled to open the bottom of the sixth, sparking a two-run inning in which Naoki Yoshikawa broke the tie with a single and scored on a Hayato Sakamoto double.
Rookie Chiharu Tanaka (1-2) earned the win in relief, and Giants closer Taisei Ota recorded his ninth save.
Elsewhere, the league-leading Hanshin Tigers scored four runs in the 10th inning to beat the two-time defending champion Yakult Swallows 7-4 and sweep their three-game series, while the Chunichi Dragons defeated the Hiroshima Carp 8-2.
In Friday’s lone Pacific League game, 23-year-old Nippon Ham Fighters prospect Chusei Mannami’s eighth home run broke up a tie game in a 5-1 win over the SoftBank Hawks.
