Shingo Usami came off the bench to deliver his second-straight game-winning hit in two at-bats as the Chunichi Dragons walked off 2-1 winners over the Yomiuri Giants on Wednesday.
Three days after he decided the Dragons' epic 2-1 come-from-behind victory on Sunday with a sayonara home run, Usami entered Wednesday's game in the ninth inning and plated the game-winner against his first pro team with a one-out pinch-hit single at Vantelin Dome Nagoya.
Giants lefty Foster Griffin allowed a run over six innings. The visitors, however, tied it against Shinnosuke Ogasawara in the seventh on a Yuto Akihiro single and a Sho Nakata double.
With the game tied 1-1 after eight, Chunichi closer Raidel Martinez (3-1), who surrendered his first earned run of the season in the 10th inning Sunday, stranded the go-ahead run on base and earned the win in relief.
Back-to-back singles by Seiya Hosokawa and Yohei Oshima set the table and a one-out intentional walk loaded the bases for Usami, who ended the game.
Dragons' leadoff man Yuki Okabayashi extended his franchise record for consecutive games with a base hit to 27 by opening the bottom of the first with a single.
Elsewhere, the Hanshin Tigers stretched their CL lead to eight games over the second-place Hiroshima Carp, whom they beat 5-3, while the Yakult Swallows outlasted the DeNA BayStars 8-6.
In the Pacific League, Kohei Arihara (5-3) outpitched Orix Buffaloes ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto (11-5) in a 3-2 SoftBank Hawks win, while the Nippon Ham Fighters blanked the Lotte Marines 6-0 and the Seibu Lions got past the Rakuten Eagles 4-1.
