KYODO NEWS - Apr 21, 2017 - 23:33 | Sports, All

Yakult Swallows ace Masanori Ishikawa allowed just a run in seven innings on Friday in a 3-1 win over the Central League champion Hiroshima Carp, who lost their third straight.

Ishikawa (2-1) gave up six hits, five of them singles, and a walk, while striking out eight -- the 37-year-old lefty's highest total since June 2014.

"My sole intent was on breaking our (three-game) losing streak," Ishikawa said. "If you can hold them close to no runs, you're chances of winning go up."

Before 27,051 at Tokyo's Jingu Stadium, the Swallows got on the board against rookie Takuya Kato (1-2) in the second on a Yuhei Takai double and an Akihisa Nishida RBI single. Nishida walked and scored in the fourth on a single by Keiji Obiki.

Seiya Suzuki's leadoff homer in the fifth cut Yakult's lead to one, but Takahiro Araki's solo homer in the bottom of the inning completed the scoring.

"He (Ishikawa) just kept the ball low in the zone and pitched carefully, so we were unable to get the big hit we needed," Carp manager Koichi Ogata said.

Two Yakult relievers supplied a scoreless inning each, with side-armer Ryo Akiyoshi earning his second save.

Although the Carp lead both leagues in runs scored, they are currently struggling offensively.

"It's a long season, and there are times like this," batting coach Takuro Ishii said. "You just have to persevere."

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Tigers 4, Giants 1

At Tokyo Dome, Kosuke Fukudome broke up Yomiuri's bid for a fourth-straight shutout with a three-run, first-inning homer of Miles Mikolas (2-1) and Hanshin's Randy Messenger (3-0) allowed a run in eight innings to earn the win.

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Dragons 2, BayStars 2, 12 innings

At Yokohama Stadium, Ryosuke Hirata prevented a Chunichi defeat by twice tying the game against DeNA. He hit a fourth-inning RBI double and with his team down to its last strike, the Dragons cleanup hitter homered and the game ended in a tie.

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Pacific League

Lions 9, Fighters 0

At MetLife Dome, Yusei Kikuchi (2-1) allowed a first-inning leadoff single, but none the rest of the way for his first shutout in four years. Shogo Akiyama homered to open the first and added a solo shot in the sixth as Seibu handed last-place Nippon Ham its sixth straight loss.

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Hawks 4, Eagles 3, 12 innings

At Yafuoku Dome, Alfredo Despaigne's 12th-inning sacrifice fly plated pinch runner Seiji Uebayashi with the winning run as SoftBank, which overcame a three-run deficit, beat league-leading Rakuten in 4 hours, 50 minutes.