Ryuhei Matsuyama had a one-out clutch tiebreaking RBI single and Eishin Soyogi added a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning as the Central League-leading Hiroshima Carp beat Chunichi Dragons 3-2 in the opener of a three-game series on Friday.
Jumpei Shinoda (3-2) yielded one run and five hits in seven innings for the win in front of a crowd of 23,203 at Mazda Stadium. The left-hander struck out two and walked two. The Carp went 11 games above .500 to match a season high.
Jun Hirose drew a one-out walk off Dragons starter Toshiya Okada (1-5) and Tetsuya Kokubo singled to put runners at the corners, setting the stage for pinch hitter Matsuyama.
Reliever Daisuke Sobue took the mound, but Matsuyama singled to right for the lead and Naoki Nakahigashi drew a walk in a pinch-hit at-bat to load the bases before Soyogi hit a sac fly off Akifumi Takahashi, the third pitcher, to make it 3-1.
The Dragons pulled within one on pinch hitter Michihiro Ogasawara’s RBI single off closer Kam Mickolio in the ninth, but the big right-hander closed for his 11th save. Carp second baseman Ryosuke Kikuchi made a fine stabbing play to stop a sharply hit grounder by pinch hitter Anderson Hernandez with runners at first and second to end it.
The Dragons scored first on Ryosuke Hirata’s grounder in the fourth before Hiroshima tied it in the bottom half when Hirose hit an RBI single to center.
Kyodo
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