Reliever Hiromu Ise inherited a no-out bases-loaded jam and pitched out of it to help secure the DeNA BayStars 3-0 Central League win over the Yomiuri Giants on Thursday.

The win at Yokohama Stadium moved second-place DeNA to within six games of the league-leading Yakult Swallows on the eve of a three-game series between the two title contenders.

The third-place Giants put the tying runs on with no outs in the eighth on a single, a walk and a throwing error by reliever Edwin Escobar. Ise preserved the shutout by retiring all three batters he faced, and closer Yasuaki Yamasaki worked the ninth for his 36th save.

"Escobar has been so reliable for us, and I wanted to help him out if I could," Ise said. "I thought giving up a hit would be OK. My focus was preventing a home run."

BayStars starting pitcher Kenta Ishida (6-4) went six innings to outduel Giants southpaw C.C. Mercedes (5-7), who allowed a run over five innings.

"I went to the mound thinking this was a must-win game," Ishida said. "The position players and the relievers, however, are the ones who got us this win."

DeNA took a first-inning lead on a Masayuki Kuwahara leadoff double and a Shugo Maki RBI single. Toshiro Miyazaki homered in the sixth to make it 2-0, and a Taiki Sekine sacrifice fly made it 3-0 in the seventh.

The Swallows lost 3-0 to the last-place Chunichi Dragons, leaving their magic number to clinch a second-straight pennant at four. Yakult has nine games remaining, the BayStars 10.

Dragons rookie Hiroto Takahashi (6-6) allowed one fluke infield single over seven innings. Swallows cleanup hitter Munetaka Murakami, whose 55 home runs are tied for second-most in a Japanese season, went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.

In the Pacific League, the second-place Orix Buffaloes lost ground in the pennant race, falling a half-game behind the SoftBank Hawks. Koki Yamaguchi homered three times and drove in eight runs to power the Lotte Marines to a 13-5 win over the Buffaloes.