TOKYO (Interstat) — Misaki Sasahara hit a two-run home run in the seventh inning to lift the Yomiuri Giants to a 3-1 victory over the Yakult Swallows on Thursday evening at Meiji Jingu Stadium. The game was completed in eight innings.

Yakult opened the scoring in the third on Hideki Nagaoka’s sacrifice fly. Yomiuri tied it in the fourth when Bobby Dalbec sacrificed a runner home. Sasahara’s homer to right with two outs in the seventh gave the Giants the lead.

Giants starter Bryan Mata allowed one run on one hit over 5 2/3 innings with five strikeouts. Yuji Akahoshi (5-2) earned the win with one-third of a scoreless inning. Raidel Martinez notched his 28th save with a perfect ninth. Shota Maruyama (0-1) took the loss.

Yomiuri outhit Yakult 7-1. The Giants improved to 44-37-2, while the Swallows fell to 41-41-1. Attendance was 29,328, and the game lasted 3 hours, 27 minutes.