Dealing with it …

Darvish, other aces deal a blow to opponents

Yu Darvish capped a number of quick games with a milestone-passing performance that lifted the Nippon Ham Fighters past the SoftBank Hawks 3-2 on Tuesday at Sapporo Dome.

The righty (2-1) fanned 10 and walked one to win his second of the season, becoming the 129th pitcher to notch 1,000 strikeouts along the way when he worked out of a jam in eighth inning.

“They have a really tough lineup and I wasn’t able to get a lot on my pitches early in the ballgame, but as it went on I started feeling better and made some good pitches,” Darvish said during the on-field postgame interview.

“I put everything into it [in the eighth] and I’m still a little woozy from it,” he quipped before commenting on his reaching a thousand Ks.

“For me this is a milestone, but when I was a rookie and went to start my first camp, I never imagined being here in this moment. I was able to get 1,000 strikeouts because of everyone, and I thank you,” Darvish said.

The Fighters bumped the Hawks out of the top spot in the Pacific League, thanks also because they put up three runs on SoftBank ace Tsuyoshi Wada (0-1).

Blossoming sixth-year outfielder Yang Zhong-sho upped his average to .347 with a game-tying solo blast in the fourth inning and added a sixth-inning single that set the table for Eiichi Koyano, who knocked him home with a hit to center.

Darvish collected punchout No. 1,000 in a bases-loaded, no-out situation. He fanned Yuichi Honda then got Seiichi Uchikawa to ground out to first -- allowing a run to score -- before blowing a fastball past Alex Cabrera to carve through the heart of the SoftBank order and escape the jam with minimal damage.

EAGLES 2, LIONS 0

Hisashi Iwakuma survived a bases-loaded jam in the ninth inning, getting the final out on his 147th pitch as Rakuten blanked host Seibu.

The Rakuten ace, who fanned 13 and walked two, held the Lions to five hits to earn his third victory in as many starts this season. He was fortunate the five hits off Seibu ace Hideaki Wakui (1-2) produced two runs.

MARINES 6, BUFFALOES 0

Ace Yoshihisa Naruse (2-1) fanned 12 while firing a six-hitter for his second consecutive shutout, and Lotte used a five-run fourth to blank Orix at The Q.

Naruse didn’t walk a batter in his ninth career shutout that extended his personal winning streak against Orix to 10 games, nine at home. The Buffaloes have last three straight.

CENTRAL LEAGUE

SWALLOWS 7, GIANTS 1

Hiroyasu Tanaka doubled twice and drove in a pair of runs, and ace Masanori Ishikawa (2-1) tossed seven innings of one-run ball as Tokyo Yakult came back to beat visiting Yomiuri for its seventh straight victory.

Yuichi Matsumoto drove in the tiebreaking run with a single in the sixth inning, and the front-running Swallows rallied for four more runs in the seventh to break away from the Giants, who are at .500.

Yomiuri’s oft-injured Yoshinobu Takahashi left the game in the fourth inning with a left oblique injury.

DRAGONS 2, BAYSTARS 2

Opening Day starter Maximo Nelson (1-1) tossed seven shutout innings, and Tony Blanco followed Hirokazu Ibata’s RBI hit with a two-run single in the third as Chunichi topped visiting Yokohama.

The BayStars scored twice in the ninth off closer Hitoki Iwase on Ikki Shimomura’s two-run double high off the wall in left-center field, but the southpaw closed it out for his second save.

CARP 6, TIGERS 4

Jun Hirose’s three-run homer in the seventh put the Carp ahead and ace Kenta Maeda (2-1) put in a quality start with seven strong innings as Hiroshima downed Hanshin at The Zoom.

The Tigers dropped under .500.