The Chunichi Dragons’ bench stepped up in the ninth inning, when Ricardo Nanita singled home the winning run with a pinch-hit single in a 3-2 victory over the struggling Hanshin Tigers.

Anderson Hernandez led off the inning against reliever Ryoma Matsuda (3-1) with a single and was sacrificed to second. Veteran Michihiro Ogasawara drew a pinch-hit walk. Nanita batted for the pitcher and lined a single to plate Hernandez with the winner. The win lifted Chunichi into sole possession of first place, a half-game ahead of the Yokohama BayStars.

The trio of Hernandez, Nanita and third baseman Hector Luna have been dubbed “3D,” in reference to their all coming from the Dominican Republic.

“They are all contributing in their roles,” said Dragons skipper Motonobu Tanishige. “When I first heard ‘3D’ I didn’t know what people were talking about, but I get it now.”

Giants at BayStars — ppd.

Carp at Swallows — ppd.

PACIFIC LEAGUE

Marines 6, Fighters 1

At Sapporo Dome, Luis Cruz wiped out a one-run deficit with a two-run double in the seventh inning and added another RBI in a four-run eighth as Chiba Lotte beat PL-leading Hokkaido Nippon Ham.

Right-hander Ayumu Ishikawa (2-0) gave up one run on three hits over seven innings.

Eagles 2, Lions 1

At Seibu Prince Dome, Ginji Akaminai broke an eighth-inning tie with a two-out RBI single and Yuki Matsui notched his fourth save as Tohoku Rakuten beat Seibu to move above .500 for the first time this season.

Hawks 4, Buffaloes 2

At Osaka’s Kyocera Dome, Seiichi Uchikawa drove in two runs, pinch hitter Masayoshi Tsukada had his first career hit, a home run, in the ninth and Kenji Otonari (2-0) threw seven innings of one-run ball as Fukuoka Softbank came from a run down to beat Orix.