Toshihiro Aoyama and Patric scored as Sanfrecce Hiroshima beat Vissel Kobe 2-0 at home to widen its lead in the J-League on Sunday.
Aoyama opened the scoring on a penalty kick in the 43rd minute and Patric sealed the win with his eighth goal of the season in stoppage time as Hiroshima improved to 34 points, eight clear of second place FC Tokyo, which beat Kawasaki Frontale 2-0 on Saturday.
Consadole Sapporo, a 2-0 winner over Gamba Osaka also on Saturday, is another point back in third.
In Sunday's other games, Riki Harakawa, Yuji Ono and An Yong Woo scored as Sagan Tosu beat Shimizu S-Pulse 3-1 for its first win since March 31.
Harakawa opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the 11th minute after S-Pulse's Yosuke Kawai was called for a handball.
Ono's header in the 26th made it 2-1 and An widened the lead early in the second half.
Also, Takuma Nishimura scored a pair of goals to lead Vegalta Sendai to a 3-1 win over Shonan Bellmare.
