Captain Hayato Sakamoto erupted for four hits and five RBIs as the Yomiuri Giants blew out the Seibu Lions 11-1 to start the interleague games Tuesday.

Tomoyuki Sugano (6-4) was two outs away from throwing his second straight shutout, but an error by center fielder Takanori Suzuki scored the lone run for Seibu at Koriyama Kaiseizan Stadium.

Sakamoto’s two-run home run in the third inning, only his third of the season, off Ken Togame (4-2) put the Giants up 3-0. The shortstop drove in two more runs in the sixth with a two-out single and another run the following inning.

Masayoshi Chono and Shinnosuke Abe also hit two-run homers for the Giants, who won their fourth in a row to move within a game of the first-place Yokohama BayStars in the Central League.

“It worked out well tonight,” said Sakamoto, who is still batting .252 for the year. “I hadn’t been hitting much up until now. These last few games, I’ve had a pretty good feel for the bat. I hope I can keep this up.”

Sugano struck out nine and scattered seven hits over the distance, without giving up an earned run in the 122-pitch effort. He had just thrown his first career shutout a week ago.

“I thought I pitched well but it’s a shame I lost the shutout at the end,” the nephew of manager Tatsunori Hara said. “It was preoccupying my mind because I did want to get it done.

“I hope I can throw a shutout at Tokyo Dome next time.”

Carp 7, Marines 4

At Hiroshima Prefecture’s Shimanami Stadium, Yoshihiro Maru’s eighth-inning grand slam lifted Hiroshima over Chiba Lotte.

Carp starter Kenta Maeda improved to 4-4, striking out eight and allowing one earned run in seven innings.

Fighters 12, Swallows 5

At Tokyo’s Jingu Stadium, Sho Nakata hit a three-run homer, his 17th of the year, and had five RBIs in Hokkaido Nippon Ham’s 17-hit rout of Tokyo Yakult.

Tigers 3, Eagles 0

At Koshien Stadium, Minoru Iwata (4-2) threw his first shutout in four years, holding Tohoku Rakuten to three hits and striking out 10.

Mauro Gomez’s two-run shot gave the Times some breathing room in the fifth.

Buffaloes 10, BayStars 3

At Yokohama Stadium, Francisco Caraballo opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly in the first before homering in consecutive at-bats to lift Orix over Yokohama.

Dragons 4, Hawks 3

At Nagoya Dome, Hector Lune’s two-run single in the third and a solo home run by Anderson Hernandez in the fourth helped Chunichi snap its three-game losing streak against Fukuoka Softbank’s Kenji Otonari (4-4), who struggled with location.