OSAKA — Tetsuya Utsumi limited the damage to two runs in five innings, Yoshiyuki Kamei hit a game-opening homer and the Yomiuri Giants defeated the Orix Buffaloes 6-2 to end a four-game losing skid on Saturday.

Kamei sent Orix starter Evan MacLane’s cutter sailing over the center field wall and Yomiuri tacked on two runs in the third. So Taguchi had an RBI double and Hisao Arakane homered in the third and fourth, respectively, for the Buffaloes.

Yoshinobu Takahashi and Shinnosuke Abe hit RBI singles for the Giants in a three-run sixth.

Utsumi (8-1), who leads the CL in wins, gave up six hits, struck out five and walked one at Kyocera Dome.

Orix saw its winning streak snapped at seven games.

Hawks 4, Swallows 1

At Fukuoka’s Yahoo Dome, Alex Cabrera and Jose Ortiz both went deep in a four-run first inning in support of lefty Toshiya Sugiuchi, who pitched one-run ball over seven frames to lead Fukuoka Softbank over Tokyo Yakult for its sixth win in a row.

Seiichi Uchikawa had an RBI single for the opening run and with a runner on first and two outs, Cabrera hit a blast to right off Masanori Ishikawa (4-3). Ortiz added a solo shot off the left-hander to the stands in left for a 4-0 lead.

Tigers 4, Lions 0

At Tokorozawa’s Seibu Dome, Matt Murton led off the game with a home run and came a triple shy of the cycle in a 3-for-4 outing as Hanshin blanked Seibu, which dropped to its fifth loss in six games.

Atsushi Nomi (3-4) pitched his first shutout in two seasons, yielding four hits with eight strikeouts for the Tigers.

Marines 10, Carp 1

At Chiba’s QVC Marine Field, Shoitsu Omatsu hit a grand slam and led his team with five RBIs, Shunsuke Watanabe threw his first complete game of the season and Chiba Lotte pounded Hiroshima to snap a four-game losing streak.

The Carp have dropped 11 of their last 13 games.

Eagles 5, Dragons 4

At Sendai’s Kleenex Stadium, Rakuten overcame a 4-1 deficit with a four-run fifth, keyed by Kazuo Matsui’s two-out, two-run single, en route to beating Chunichi.

Fighters 3, BayStars 2

At Sapporo Dome, Micah Hoffpauir hit a tiebreaking homer leading off the seventh, Bobby Keppel (6-1) went seven innings of two-run ball and Hokkaido Nippon Ham held on to win its fifth straight by edging Yokohama.