HIROSHIMA (Interstat) — Masato Morishita pitched eight innings of one-run ball, Ryosuke Kikuchi and Tai Sasaki homered, and the Hiroshima Carp defeated the Hanshin Tigers 6-1 on Friday evening at Mazda Zoom-Zoom Stadium.

Morishita (6-7) earned his sixth win, allowing five hits and one earned run while striking out five. He retired Hanshin in order in the first, third and seventh innings and never allowed the Tigers to mount a sustained threat. Taichi Taka pitched a scoreless ninth with one strikeout to preserve the margin.

Hiroto Saiki (6-5) took the loss for Hanshin. He allowed three runs on six hits over four innings, striking out three. The Tigers’ bullpen combination of Keito Mombetsu, Anderson Severino and Ryosuke Jingu allowed three additional runs over the final five innings, though Jingu worked 1 1/3 scoreless innings with one strikeout, and Severino allowed one earned run in one inning.

The Carp opened the scoring in the second inning. Shogo Akiyama singled to shallow center, and Kaito Kozono singled to shallow left, putting runners on first and second with no outs. Tai Sasaki flied out and Tomoki Ishihara struck out, but Morishita helped his own cause by singling to shallow left to bring home Akiyama for the game’s first run. Norihiko Nabara then flied out to center to end the inning.

Hiroshima doubled its lead in the third when Kikuchi led off the inning with a solo home run to left. Sasaki made it 3-0 in the fourth with another solo shot to left, his second hit of the night.

The most important part of the game came in the fifth inning. With one out, Kikuchi doubled on the left-field line. Sandro Fabian then tripled to right-center, scoring Kikuchi and extending the lead to 4-0. Shogo Sakakura followed with a groundout to second, but the play brought home Fabian, giving the Carp a 5-0 advantage. That rally proved more than enough for Morishita, who had not allowed a runner past second base until that point and continued to keep Hanshin off balance.

The Tigers had an early chance to get back into the game in the fourth inning. Koji Chikamoto singled to shallow center with no outs, and Nozomu Takatera singled to shallow right, putting runners on first and second. But Shota Morishita grounded into a double play, and Teruaki Sato struck out swinging to end the threat. In the fifth, Ukyo Maegawa walked with one out and Hiyu Motoyama singled to shallow right, but Dermis Garcia struck out to strand both runners.

Hanshin finally broke through in the eighth. Motoyama singled to shallow right to lead off the inning, and Takumu Nakano walked. Koji Chikamoto grounded out to first, moving the runners to second and third. Nozomu Takatera then grounded out to third, allowing Motoyama to score and cutting the deficit to 5-1.

Hiroshima answered immediately in the bottom half. Kaito Kozono singled to shallow center with no outs. Pinch-runner Konosuke Tatsumi stole second base, and after Tai Sasaki flied out and Tomoki Ishihara grounded out, Elehuris Montero singled to shallow left, driving in Tatsumi to make it 6-1. Nabara grounded out to first to end the inning.

The Carp finished with 13 hits, while Hanshin collected six. Kikuchi went 2 for 3 with a home run and an RBI. Sasaki went 2 for 4 with a home run and an RBI. Fabian drove in a run with his triple, and Montero added a pinch-hit RBI single. Morishita, Sakakura and Shogo Akiyama also drove in runs for Hiroshima.

For Hanshin, Chikamoto, Takatera, Yusuke Ohyama, Motoyama and Sato each had one hit. Sato doubled in the ninth, but the Tigers were unable to push across another run. Morishita, the winning pitcher, blanked Hanshin through seven innings before allowing the unearned run in the eighth; the run was earned because Takatera’s groundout scored Motoyama, and Morishita was charged with one earned run.

The win improved Hiroshima’s record to 39-57-1. Hanshin, which entered the game with the best record in the Central League at 58-45-1, fell for the second consecutive game. The teams are scheduled to play again Saturday and Sunday at Mazda Zoom-Zoom Stadium, continuing a three-game series. Hanshin had won two of three at Hiroshima in a July series, but the Carp secured the opener of this set.

Attendance was announced at 32,072, and the game lasted 2 hours, 45 minutes.

Interstat’s game simulator projected a final score of Hanshin Tigers 5, Hiroshima Toyo Carp 3. Interstat’s ELO system had given Hanshin a 64.90 percent probability to win. Hanshin had been installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of +1.5. The combined total of seven runs went over the over/under line of 6.5.