Kazuhiro Hatakeyama singled in the winning run with two outs in the 11th inning to send the Tokyo Yakult Swallows to a 4-3 sayonara victory over the Central League-leading Yokohama BayStars on Thursday.

Tetsuto Yamada singled with two outs against right-hander Yota Kosugi, the BayStars’ sixth pitcher of the evening, and pinch hitter Hiroyasu Tanaka singled him to second. Shingo Kawabata, 0-for-4 to that point, loaded the bases by beating out a little grounder to third for a single. Hatakeyama lined one into the gap in left to plate the winner.

The Swallows drew first blood before 17,959 at Tokyo’s Jingu Stadium, when Yamada came home on a two-out Hatakeyama single in the first inning. Yamada drew a leadoff walk from Kazuki Mishima, stole second easily, went to third on a groundout before Hatakeyama delivered with a ground single.

Yakult southpaw Yoshihisa Naruse was untouchable through three, but couldn’t put away cleanup hitter Yoshitomo Tsutsugo with two outs and a runner on second. Hiroyuki Shirasaki lobbed an opposite-field fly down the left-field line for a leadoff double. With one out, Naruse got ahead of Tsutsugo 0-2, but a 2-2 slider intended to be low and away, missed low and in and the BayStars captain drove it into the right-field stands for his 10th homer of the season and his third in two nights.

Singles by Jose Lopez and Taiki Sekine put runners on first and second with two outs, and Shuto Takajo doubled off the wall in right to make it a 3-1 game.

Yokohama threatened to deliver a knockout punch in the sixth, when Naruse was removed with two outs and two on. Right-hander Takeaki Tokuyama walked the bases loaded before striking out Mishima, and the Swallows tied it in the home half.

Hatakeyama doubled with one out and scored from third when Lastings Milledge bounced one over third for a two-out single. A walk moved Milledge to second and he raced home to tie it on Shuhei Nakamura’s line single.

Mishima left having allowed three runs on six hits and three walks, while striking out seven. Naruse allowed three runs on seven hits and a walk in 5-2/3 innings. The lefty struck out three.

Yokohama’s Shuichiro Osada escaped a one-out, two-on jam in the seventh by making a leaping grab of a bouncer headed up the middle to start a double play.

Tigers 2, Giants 1

At Koshien Stadium, Ryota Arai’s pinch-hit sacrifice fly tied it and Takashi Toritani’s single off setup man Scott Mathieson plated the go-ahead run as Hanshin came from a run down in the eighth to beat Yomiuri.

PACIFIC LEAGUE

Hawks 10, Buffaloes 6

At Fukuoka’s Yafuoku Dome, Lee Dae-ho and Nobuhiro Matsuda each went deep and drove in four runs apiece as Fukuoka Softbank beat Orix in a game that saw four home runs from each team.

Fighters 9, Eagles 5 (12)

At Sendai’s Kobo Stadium, Takuya Nakashima went 5-for-6, squeezed home a go-ahead run in the 11th and broke a 5-5 tie in the 12th with a two-out, two-run infield single as Hokkaido Nippon Ham beat Tohoku Rakuten in a 5-hour, 37-minute marathon.

Marines 10, Lions 6

At Seibu Prince Dome, Luis Cruz and Alfredo Despaigne each homered twice and drove in three runs apiece and Chiba Lotte held on to beat Seibu.