Koyo Aoyagi of the Hanshin Tigers throws against the Yakult Swallows on June 29, 2021, at Hanshin Koshien Stadium in western Japan. (Kyodo)

       TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Koyo Aoyagi threw seven solid innings as the Central League-leading Hanshin Tigers snapped their three-game losing streak with a 5-3 win over the Yakult Swallows on Tuesday.

       Aoyagi (7-2) fanned nine as he held the visitors to two runs on five hits and a walk at Koshien Stadium in a 101-pitch effort, also singling and scoring a run in the five-run second for Hanshin.

       Aoyagi opened with three straight strikeouts before Yakult cleanup Munetaka Murakami went deep for his team's first hit in the second. But the Tigers responded immediately in the home half, putting together seven straight two-out singles, the second coming from Aoyagi, off Kazuto Taguchi (4-5).

       Koji Chikamoto tied the game before Kento Itohara, Jefry Marte, Jerry Sands and slugging rookie Teruaki Sato all followed suit as they scored all their runs in the inning.

       Taguchi lasted four innings, giving up 10 hits and a walk while striking out two in an 87-pitch outing. Aoyagi had runners on second and third with one out in the fourth but got away with a single run on the sacrifice fly from Yuhei Nakamura.

       Tetsuto Yamada blasted a solo shot off reliever Suguru Iwazaki in the eighth, but the Swallows lost their fourth straight game.

       At Tokyo Dome, cleanup Kazuma Okamoto went 3-for-3 with two home runs, the latter a three-run shot to break a tie in the eighth, as the Yomiuri Giants beat the Hiroshima Carp 11-8 for their eighth straight win.

       At Yokohama Stadium, Masayuki Kuwahara singled in the go-ahead run in the fifth before the game was called for rain in the sixth as the DeNA BayStars won their fourth straight game, beating the Chunichi Dragons 3-2.

       At Rakuten Seimei Park Miyagi, Hiroaki Shimauchi's RBI double capped a four-run fifth for the Pacific League-leading Rakuten Eagles as they fought their way back to secure a 5-5 tie against the Nippon Ham Fighters.

       At Kyocera Dome Osaka, Yutaro Sugimoto had two home runs as they also came back from five runs down to snatch a 5-5 tie with the Lotte Marines.

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