Yuya Fukui, who turned down the Yomiuri Giants when they drafted him out of high school, spurned the Central League champs again on Thursday, going eight impressive innings for the Hiroshima Carp in a 3-2 victory.

The right-hander, who went on to Waseda University before becoming the first pick of the Carp in 2010, allowed two runs on two hits, two walks and a hit batsman over eight innings. Fukui, who improved to 6-2, struck out seven and drove in the tiebreaking run in the fifth.

“I feel I pitched really well through the eighth inning” said Fukui, who retired the last 13 batters he faced. “I just concentrated on getting one out at a time and this was the result.

“(Rookie Kazuki) Yabuta won for us last night and the team’s mood now is really good.”

The visitors’ second-straight win, which moved them to within 1-1/2 games of the CL-leading Tokyo Yakult Swallows, took a 2-0 lead in the first on Nate Schierholtz’s seventh home run, a two-run shot off Aaron Poreda (5-4).

The Giants, however, tied it with single runs in the first and third. Hisayoshi Chono tripled to open the first and scored on Soichiro Tateoka’s sacrifice fly. Chono walked with one out in the third, advanced two bases on a single by Tateoka, and tied it on a sacrifice fly by Hayato Sakamoto.

After the opening skirmish, however, both sides struggled for chances until Eishin Soyogi reached on a leadoff bunt single in the fifth and went to second on a wild throw. A single by Kosuke Tanaka put runners on the corners. Tanaka stole second but Yomiuri was able to cut down the lead runner on the next play, leaving runners on the corners with one out for Fukui.

Although the infield was in, Fukui’s little roller to shortstop was enough to get the fleet-footed Tanaka home from third for the go-ahead run.

Fukui retired the last 13 batters he faced before giving way to Shota Nakazaki in the ninth. The stocky right-hander allowed a leadoff single to Sakamoto, but nothing else to earn his ninth save.

Poreda was charged with three runs in eight innings on six hits and two walks. The lefty struck out nine.

Swallows 10, Tigers 1

At Tokyo’s Jingu Stadium, Tokyo Yakult moved into first place by completing a three-game sweep of Hanshin.

Submarine right-hander Hirofumi Yamanaka, a 29-year-old career minor leaguer acquired last summer in a trade with Softbank, allowed a run over seven innings to improve to 2-0, while Tetsuto Yamada homered for the second straight day with his 16th and 17th home runs.

PACIFIC LEAGUE

Marines 3, Eagles 2

At Chiba’s QVC Marine Field, Taiwan lefty Chen Kuan-yu (2-3) allowed a run in 5-2/3 innings to earn the win behind a big night at the plate by Yoshifumi Okada.

The speedster singled in two runs in the second, and tripled and scored in the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Ikuhiro Kiyota as Chiba Lotte beat Tohoku Rakuten.

Hawks 3, Lions 2

At Fukuoka’s Yafuoku Dome, Seibu closer Tomomi Takahashi (1-1) blew a two-run, ninth inning lead with Seiichi Uchikawa delivering a sayonara sacrifice fly to complete Fukuoka Softbank’s comeback.

Fighters 8, Buffaloes 4

At Sapporo Dome, Shohei Otani allowed two runs in 6-2/3 innings and reached 160 kph with his fastball before leaving with a two-run lead that the bullpen relinquished.

Hokkaido Nippon Ham, however, bounced back to beat Orix, taking the lead in the eighth on an RBI single by Kenshi Sugiya and a three-run homer by Brandon Laird, who reached base four times and scored three runs.