Hiroki Kuroda threw eight innings to earn his sixth win as the Hiroshima Carp beat the interleague- and Pacific League-leading Fukuoka Softbank Hawks 6-0 on Friday.

The Carp, last in the Central League, took the lead after Kuroda (6-2) pitched out of a two-out, bases-loaded jam in the first inning. The right-hander allowed six hits, two walks and hit a batter, while striking out four in his longest outing since he went eight innings for the New York Yankees on July 1, 2014, against Tampa Bay.

“If you can really hang in there, you can get this kind of result,” said Kuroda, whose error contributed to the Hawks’ scoring threat in the first. “It was my mistake that caused us trouble, but somehow we were able to get out of it.”

With one out, Kuroda fielded a routine comebacker, but flubbed his lines by casually bouncing his throw past first baseman Brad Eldred for a two-base error. After a single put runners on the corners, and brought the infield in, a stolen base put two men in scoring position for cleanup hitter Seiichi Uchikawa, who grounded out to short. Kuroda hit Lee Dae-ho with his next pitch.

Hawks captain Nobuhiro Matsuda, who had homered in each of the last three games, grounded an 0-1 two-seam fastball to short for the third out.

Kosuke Tanaka, who had dropped Matsuda’s grounder but recovered just in time to nip him at first, homered with a man on against Hawks ace Tadashi Settsu (4-5) in the top of the second to make it a 2-0 game. Yoshiyuki Ishihara singled to open the Carp third and scored on a groundout to make it 3-0. Seiya Suzuki’s solo homer in the fourth made it 4-0, while Brad Eldred singled and scored on a groundout in the sixth, and Ishihara’s solo homer in the ninth sealed it.

Kuroda pitched out of a two-on, one-out situation in the sixth by getting Uchikawa to hit into Softbank’s third double play of the game. With two outs and the bases loaded in the eighth, Uchikawa tried to drive a low splitter, but could only reach the warning track for the third out.

“This is a tough team to get out,” Kuroda said. “They have speed and they have power. My focus, however, is on executing my pitches. I believe in the pitching that has gotten me here, and I felt I was able to execute.”

The victory was Hiroshima’s first in Fukuoka since May 21, 2010. The Carp were 0-8 with one tie since then.

Swallows 9, Lions 3

At Seibu Prince Dome, Tokyo Yakult’s Hirofumi Yamanaka (1-0) won a matchup of underhand-throwing right-handers, allowing three runs in six innings to beat Seibu’s Opening Day starter, Kazuhisa Makita (4-4), and post his first career victory.

Marines 5, Giants 4

At Chiba’s QVC Marine Field, Ikuhiro Kiyota’s two-run home run broke a 3-3 tie to hand a win to Yuki Karakawa (3-0), who allowed three runs in seven innings in Chiba Lotte’s victory over Yomiuri.

Eagles 3, Dragons 1

At Sendai’s Kobo Stadium, Wataru Karashima (3-1) allowed a run in seven innings to earn the victory and Yuki Matsui notched his 16th save as Tohoku Rakuten beat Chunichi to register its fourth straight win.

Buffaloes 1, Tigers 0 (10)

At Osaka’s Kyocera Dome, Orix rookie Sachiya Yamasaki worked six innings and four relievers completed the three-hit shutout that the Buffaloes won in the 10th.

With one out and two on, Hanshin’s Kohei Shibata mishandled a single to center, allowing the winning run to score on an error. Tigers starter Randy Messenger allowed six hits and a walk over nine scoreless innings.

Fighters 8, BayStars 7 (11)

At Sapporo Dome, Kenji Yano, who joined Hokkaido Nippon Ham earlier in the day after a trade from Yomiuri, set up the winning run with an 11th-inning double, his third of the game, and the game ended on a wild pitch by Yokohama reliever Yuki Kuniyoshi.

The BayStars’ Aarom Baldiris doubled in two runs in the eighth and scored the tying run on Tomo Otosaka’s triple to force extra innings.