Yu the man …
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The Pacific League was armed and dangerous on Wednesday and Nippon Ham’s Yu Darvish was the trigger man in interleague action.
The Fighters right-hander fired a four-hitter to blankthe Chunichi Dragons 4-0 at Nagoya Dome, part of a night in which Central League teams combined to score just four runs and lost five of the six games to the Pacific League.
Darvish (6-1), who didn’t allow a runner to reach third, has a 26-inning scoreless streak. He has been particularly tough on the Dragons, who haven’t scored off him in 29 consecutive innings, including Japan Series games.
“I just wanted to do my job to the best of my ability and help my team win,” said Darvish, who fanned 11 and walked one in his second shutout of the season. Darvish won his sixth straight decision since losing on Opening Day and leads both leagues in wins.
The 2008 Sawamura Award winner even had two hits and a walk in his first regular season start at the dome, tormenting Chunichi starter Maximo Nelson (3-2).
Darvish, who said his hits were luck, lowered his ERA to 1.86.
Yoshio Itoi’s RBI double in the first was all Darvish needed for support, but Yang Zhong-sho added a run in the third with his RBI single.
HAWKS 2, GIANTS 1
Tsuyoshi Wada (3-1) held Yomiuri to a run over six innings in front of numerous major league scouts and made Nobuhiro Matsuda’s fifth-inning, two-run single hold up as SoftBank sent the Giants to their third straight home loss.
The Giants fell to 3-4 in interleague play and have not homered at Tokyo Dome for five consecutive games, the longest homerless streak at the Big Egg since 1985.
The Hawks have won five straight and are unbeaten in seven interleague games.
Wada is tied for the most career interleague wins with 19.
LIONS 5, CARP 0
Hideaki Wakui (3-2) scattered eight hits and two walks with eight Ks for his 19th interleague win, and
Takeya Nakamura took over the PL lead in homers with his 10th as Seibu topped Hiroshima at The Zoom.
Wakui threw his ninth career shutout and is tied with Wada for the all-time lead in interleague wins.
ORIX 4, SWALLOWS 1
Alfredo Figaro (3-2) handcuffed Yakult on two hits over 7.2 innings, and So Taguchi’s RBI hit in the eighth put Orix on top as it finished off its third straight win, the team’s longest winning streak of the season.
The Swallows didn’t have a hit until one out in the sixth when Josh Whitesell cracked his fourth longball for their only run.
MARINES 5, TIGERS 2
Tadahito Iguchi’s RBI single in the fifth broke a 1-1 tie, and Tomoya Satozaki followed with an RBI hit as Lotte held off struggling Hanshin at Koshien Stadium for its first interleague victory.
The Marines are 1-7-1 vs. the CL, while the Tigers slumped to six games under .500.
EAGLES 6, BAYSTARS 6
Takehiro Ishikawa got Yokohama even with a clutch RBI single in the eighth inning and Rakuten’s Ryan Speier set the side down in order in the ninth as the 210-minute rule left the teams deadlocked at Yokohama Stadium.
[Edited by: jgibson on May 26, 2011 8:48 AM]
[Edited by: jgibson on May 26, 2011 4:05 PM]