The Yomiuri Giants blanked the first-place Hiroshima Carp for the second straight night, this time with ace Tomoyuki Sugano throwing six scoreless innings in a 5-0 win Wednesday.

Pitching on four days’ rest for the first time since September 2015, Sugano (8-4) picked up his Central League-leading eighth victory by holding the Carp to just three hits and a walk while striking out four.

Sugano called it a night at Mazda Stadium after 82 pitches. Scott Mathieson, Kentaro Nishimura and Arquimedes Caminero allowed Hiroshima just one more hit the rest of the way as the Giants beat the Carp for the third time this season.

Sugano lowered his ERA to 2.34 in winning for just the first time since June 13.

“Wow, I didn’t think I hadn’t won in that long,” Sugano said. “But I’m glad we were able to beat a strong team like Hiroshima.

“I stuck it out tonight. (Catcher Seiji) Kobayashi did a great job of showing me the way.”

As he did a night earlier, Hayato Sakamoto provided the fireworks with a pair of hits and two RBIs, while Hisayoshi Chono’s two-run blast in the ninth ensured the win for Yomiuri.

“If us pitchers stop opponents from scoring, then we won’t lose,” Sugano said. “We’re in a tight spot at the moment, but we still have half a season to go. We need to turn it around.”

Dragons 3, Swallows 0

At Nagoya Dome, Jordan Norberto (6-2) and three relievers combined to hold Tokyo Yakult to two hits as Chunichi sent the Swallows to their fourth consecutive defeat.

BayStars 4, Tigers 1

At Yokohama Stadium, the BayStars defeated Hanshin for their first five-game winning streak of the year behind 6⅔ strong innings from Haruhiro Hamaguchi (6-3).

PACIFIC LEAGUE

Hawks 5, Buffaloes 3

At Fukuoka’s Yafuoku Dome, Dennis Sarfate pitched a scoreless ninth inning to earn his 200th save in Japan, his 25th of the season, as SoftBank beat Orix to win its fourth straight.

Sarfate is only the sixth pitcher in Japanese baseball history — and the first foreign player — to reach the milestone. At 36 years and two months, he is the oldest to accomplish the feat.

Eagles 6, Marines 2

At Chiba’s Zozo Marine Stadium, Zelous Wheeler’s two-run home run sparked a three-run ninth inning that put Tohoku Rakuten in the clear as the first-place Eagles sent Lotte to its third loss in a row.