SAPPORO – Yu Darvish won his seventh straight start Wednesday, pitching a four-hit shutout in the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters’ 1-0 victory over the Hanshin Tigers.
Darvish (7-1) scattered four singles, walked none and struck out eight in a 103-pitch outing at Sapporo Dome.
His battery mate Shota Ono broke a scoreless tie in the eighth inning with an RBI single to left off reliever Hiroyuki Kobayashi (0-3).
A walk to Tomohiro Nioka and Makoto Kaneko’s single put runners on the corners with one out, setting the stage for Ono.
Tigers starter Jason Standridge threw five scoreless innings.
Lions 4, Giants 1
At Seibu Dome, Takumi Kuriyama went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and Takeya Nakamura hit his PL-leading 12th homer, a two-run shot in the fifth, leading Seibu over Yomiuri.
Hideaki Wakui (4-2) pitched his third straight complete game, limiting the Giants to a Hayato Sakamoto solo drive in the fourth and two other hits. Norihito Kaneto (1-2) took the loss.
Eagles 3, Carp 0
At Sendai’s Kleenex Stadium, Masahiro Tanaka threw seven shutout innings as Tohoku Rakuten sent Hiroshima to its sixth consecutive loss.
Takeshi Yamasaki drove in two runs. Takeru Imamura (1-3) gave up three runs in five innings for the Carp, who have not scored a run in their last 44 innings — the worst in club history.
Hawks 6, Dragons 0
At Yahoo Dome, Tsuyoshi Wada and three relievers combined on a five-hit shutout as Fukuoka Softbank routed Chunichi to remain unbeaten after 12 interleague games.
Wada (4-1) walked none in 5⅓ innings.
Katsuki Yamazaki singled in the opening run in the second off Chen Wei-yin (2-2).
In interleague play, the Hawks have won 10 games, including the last six, and tied two.
Buffaloes 5, BayStars 2
At Kyocera Dome, Takahiro Okada broke a 2-2 tie with an RBI single in the fifth inning, leading Orix over Yokohama.
Alfredo Figaro (4-2) allowed two runs in six innings for the win.
Swallows 3, Marines 2
At Chiba’s QVC Marine Field, Josh Whitesell doubled in the go-ahead run in the seventh inning as Tokyo Yakult edged Chiba Lotte.
Click to enlarge