Miles Mikolas threw a five-hit shutout to outduel Orix Buffaloes right-hander Brandon Dickson as the Yomiuri Giants won 1-0 on Thursday in interleague action.

The loss was the Buffaloes’ sixth straight and their third under interim manager Junichi Fukura, who took over the Pacific League stragglers from Hiroshi Moriwaki on Tuesday. Dickson (6-4) allowed a run on three hits. He struck out eight without issuing a walk, but it was no help for an Orix club that lost its fifth straight one-run decision.

Mikolas, whose first season in Japan got off to a stuttering start, improved to 2-2 with a third straight impressive start and his first shutout in Japan. The former San Diego Padre and Texas Ranger struck out nine and walked one.

The right-hander’s only jam came in the ninth, when he loaded the bases with one out, but was rescued on a solid play by third baseman Daiki Yoshikawa, who turned a game-ending double play that sealed the Giants move into sole possession of the Central League lead.

“I owe it all to my defense,” Mikolas said. “That was amazing.”

Yomiuri ended Orix’s fourth inning on a good defensive play by Yoshinobu Takahashi in left, and the breaks went its way in the home half of the inning, when it opened the scoring against Dickson.

The right-hander kept his pitches down in the zone, but Yasuyuki Kataoka lined a first-pitch fastball up the middle for a one-out single. Yoshiyuki Kamei went after a tough 1-1 pitch and somehow got it out of the infield, hitting a bouncer over first base to put runners on the corners.

Kataoka then scored on Hayato Sakamoto’s grounder deep into the hole at short. Ryoichi Adachi had a force at second but fumbled the ball for an error, but Dickson got out of the inning with back-to-back strikeouts.

“I threw a fastball down the middle to Kataoka and he hit it past me. And then I threw a two-seam fastball that he (Kamei) hit straight down, like I wanted, but it went over first,” Dickson said.

“I think we’re all a little down. We all think we can play better. That’s frustrating for everyone. We need some good things to go our way. We need some confidence.”

Good things nearly went the Buffaloes’ way in the ninth, but once more they found themselves losing by the slimmest of margins.

With one out in the top of the ninth and trailing by a run, Shunta Goto drew the game’s first walk. Masahiro Nishino lashed a 1-2 pitch from Mikolas between third and short. Francisco Caraballo, 0-for-3 against Mikolas so far in the game, grounded a single to left to load the bases for Takahiro Okada.

Okada, who had doubled twice and had a drive cleaned off the wall on a jumping catch to end the fourth, had so far posed Orix’s only offensive threat. After a visit from Giants pitching coach Masaki Saito, Mikolas got ahead of Okada, before the left-handed slugger hit a bullet to third.

Yoshikawa did well to glove the ball, scrambled to the bag for one out and made a solid throw to first to prevent Orix from tying it.

Tigers 3, Marines 0

At Koshien Stadium, lefty Yuta Iwasada (1-1) pitched out of trouble to last 6-2/3 innings and four relievers completed Hanshin’s six-hit shutout of Chiba Lotte.

Hawks 8, BayStars 0

At Yokohama Stadium, Shota Takeda (5-2) threw a three-hit shutout and singled in a run as Fukuoka Softbank knocked Yokohama out of a share of the CL lead.

Lee Dae-ho hit a two-run, second-inning homer, his third in three games.

Fighters 6, Carp 3

At Hiroshima’s Mazda Stadium, Naoyuki Uwasawa (4-5) allowed two runs in seven innings, and Hiromi Oka homered and drove in three runs as PL leader Hokkaido Nippon Ham completed a three-game sweep of CL cellar dweller Hiroshima.

Eagles 7, Swallows 2

At Tokyo’s Jingu Stadium, Taishi Nakagawa continued his breakout season, homering twice and drawing a walk, while Yasunori Kikuchi (2-0) allowed a run in five innings as Tohoku Rakuten beat Tokyo Yakult.

Dragons 1, Lions 1 (12)

At Nagoya Dome, Seibu ace Takayuki Kishi allowed a run in seven innings to Chunichi in a season debut that was delayed by injury and the two teams played to a tie.