SAPPORO -- Yu Darvish showed he was ready for the big show Wednesday night, and at his age, he is going to be around for plenty more.
Darvish went the distance in the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters' series opening victory over the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks, shutting down a confident order that had scored 17 runs in its final two games with Seibu in the first-stage playoffs.
Against Darvish, however, Softbank was held to a run and seven hits over nine innings.