Yomiuri Giants ace Tomoyuki Sugano threw eight innings and rookie Taisei Ota finished up a 3-0 interleague win over the Pacific League-leading Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks on Thursday.
Sugano (6-4) allowed five hits and three walks at Tokyo Dome, but faced only one real threat, when he preserved a 1-0 lead by retiring slugger Yuki Yanagita with two on in the third inning.
The Giants, who started the day second in the Central League and three games out of first place, have been consistently upstaged by the Hawks in recent years. SoftBank beat them in the 2019 and 2020 Japan Series, both times in four straight games.
Sugano overcame a leadoff single in the top of the first, and Yoshihiro Maru homered to open the home half of the inning off Colin Rea (3-3). Adam Walker hit his 11th homer for the Giants in the third, and Maru completed the scoring with his 11th, in the fifth.
Ota worked a 1-2-3 ninth inning to record his Japan-best 19th save. The win kept the Giants from losing ground to the Swallows, who overturned a three-run deficit to beat the Chiba Lotte Marines 7-3.
The CL's Chunichi Dragons, Hiroshima Carp and Hanshin Tigers were also winners, the Dragons beating the Tohoku Rakuten Eagles 3-2, the Carp downing the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters 6-3, and the Tigers beating the Seibu Lions 6-1 behind three hits and an RBI from winning pitcher Joe Gunkel (2-4).
The defending PL champion Orix Buffaloes beat the DeNA BayStars 3-1 with Yoshihisa Hirano's 15th save making him the seventh player to save 200 games in Japan.