Showstoppers …

Keppel, Nakata team up to top Carp

Righty Bobby Keppel had five perfect innings and one two-hit inning, and Sho Nakata put on a show-stopping performance as the Nippon Ham Fighters slapped around the Hiroshima Carp 9-1 on Saturday at The Zoom.

Keppel retired the first 15 batters faced, but ran into trouble in the sixth inning--surrendering a leadoff single to Yoshikazu Kura and a clutch RBI single to Akihiro Higashide—but posted his seventh victory, thanks to Nakata.

The fourth-year outfielder, a Hiroshima native, returned to his old stomping ground with a two-homer, five-RBI game as the Fighters improved to 16-7 in interleague play.

Nakata slugged his eighth homer in the seventh inning, a solo blast, and came back with a mammoth two-run shot that capped a five-run eighth as the Fighters won going away.

Keppel was done after the sixth, having allowed two hits and a run with five Ks. He didn’t walk a batter.

Yoshio Itoi went 3-for-3 with an RBI double, Eiichi Koyano and Makoto Kaneko each had three hits, and Kensuke Tanaka doubled and singled twice before leaving the game when he wrenched his left ankle while stealing second base in the sixth.

BAYSTASRS 6, HAWKS 4

Terrmel Sledge connected for a tiebreaking two-run homer in the eighth inning as host Yokohama rallied from 4-1 to top high-flying, interleague-winning SoftBank.

Norihiro Nakamura, whom the BayStars claimed from the scrap pile in May, unloaded off Toshiya Sugiuchi to give him a no decision in a game in which he notched his career 1,500th strikeout.

Sugiuchi became the 50th pitcher to reach the milestone but couldn’t protect a three-run lead.

GIANTS 2, LIONS 1

CL wins leader Tetsuya Utsumi (9-1) tossed a three-hitter and singled home a run in his 17th career complete game as Yomiuri edged Seibu at the Egg to snap a three-game skid.

Second-year outfielder Hisayoshi Chono smacked a solo shot in the fifth to raise his CL-leading average to .324, while Utsumi walked three and fanned nine.

SWALLOWS 3, MARINES 0

Shohei Tateyama (6-1) scattered seven hits and walked none over 8.1 innings, and Hiroyasu Tanaka accounted for all the game’s runs with a bases-clearing double in the first as Yakult blanked Lotte at Jingu Stadium.

Lim Chang Yong got the last two outs for his CL-best-tying 14th save.

EAGLES 2, TIGERS 1

Kazuo Matsui hit a two-run homer in the first and Shinichiro Koyama (3-1) got the win with 1.2 innings of relief as Rakuten got past Hanshin in a game called in the middle of the sixth after a 73-minute rain delay.

The homer was the first from the right side for the switch-hitting Matsui since Aug. 24, 2003.

BUFFALOES 4, DRAGONS 0

Lee Seung Yeop rose from the dead with his first four-hit game since Sept. 7, 2007, hitting a homer and a double to drive in two, and Shinya Nakayama (2-4) worked seven scoreless innings as Orix shut out host Chunichi.