Sachiya Yamasaki threw eight innings to outpitch Carter Stewart Jr. in a 1-0 Orix Buffaloes victory over the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in the Pacific League on Wednesday.
At Kyocera Dome Osaka, the left-handed Yamasaki (10-5) reached 10 wins for the first time in his career with the help of his catcher, Kenya Wakatsuki, who drove in the only run with a second-inning homer.
Yamasaki struck out five batters without issuing a walk while surrendering five singles for the Buffaloes, who recently clinched their third straight PL pennant.
Stewart (3-6) allowed three hits and three walks while striking out six over six innings. And though he struggled with his command, his pitches often overpowered the Buffaloes' hitters.
With their loss, the second-place Hawks' lead over the Lotte Marines slipped to half a game.
The Marines snapped a seven-game losing streak in a 4-2 win over the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters and moved past the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles into third place. Rakuten fell into fourth, a half-game back, with a 2-1 loss to the Seibu Lions.
In the Central League, the TokyoYakult Swallows thumped the third-place DeNA BayStars 11-3 to prevent DeNA from clinching the league's final playoff spot, while the newly crowned champions, the Hanshin Tigers, fell 7-2 to the last-place Chunichi Dragons.