
The Yomiuri Shimbun
Rookie right-hander Kenichi Nakata has brought stability to the Chunichi Dragons' rotation, hurling his second strong outing in eight days in a 3-1 victory over the Hiroshima Carp at Nagoya Dome.
The Dragons stretched their most recent winning streak to six games as Nakata (4-2), who started the string on Aug. 21 by tossing seven shutout innings to beat the Yokohama BayStars, scattered six hits--including Kenta Kurihara's 10th homer--and struck out nine over seven innings.
Nakata, who hadn't made a start for more than three months before taking the mound last week, got behind when Kurihara jumped on mistake in the fourth inning and sent it over the fence in center for a 1-0 lead.
But Masahiko Morino drove a pitch from loser Kenny Rayborn (2-2) into the seats in right with two aboard to account for all three Chunichi runs in the bottom of fourth.
It was Morino's first homer this season at Nagoya Dome.
"They scored on us first, but we came right back and put up some runs in the bottom of the inning," the outfielder said.
"I wanted to be aggressive [in the at-bat] from the start, and at least come out of it with a sacrifice fly," said Morino, who added that he knew he had gotten it all.
The second-place Dragons, who kept pace with the front-running Hanshin Tigers with their second six-game winning streak, travel to Koshien for a three-game set that starts on Tuesday.
GO GO DRAGONS!! BEAT TIGER!!!
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