TOKYO (Interstat) — Kazuyuki Takemaru pitched six scoreless innings, allowing five hits and striking out six, and Shunsuke Urata drove in three runs as the Yomiuri Giants beat the Yakult Swallows 8-2 on Saturday at Tokyo Dome.

Yomiuri broke a 1-1 tie with five runs in the third inning. Misaki Sasahara’s two-run single, a walk by Takemaru with the bases loaded and Urata’s two-run single fueled the rally. Shunsuke Sasaki added a two-run single in the seventh inning.

Yakult scored single runs in the second and seventh innings. Souma Uchiyama had an RBI single in the second, and Takeshi Miyamoto’s groundout plated a run in the seventh.

Takemaru improved to 8-8, while Keiji Takahashi fell to 2-6. Yomiuri outhit Yakult 13-9. Attendance was 42,390, and the game lasted 3 hours, 17 minutes. Yomiuri improved to 52-45-2, and Yakult dropped to 48-51-1.