Fly like an Eagle …

Rakuten tops Darvish, moves into 3rd with 5-game winning streak

The Rakuten Eagles didn’t figure to have much of a chance to beat the Nippon Ham Fighters on Thursday at Sapporo Dome.

They were facing Yu Darvish -- Pacific League leader in wins, winning percentage and strikeouts -- but the Eagles left flying high after a 2-1 victory, their fifth straight.

An Eiichi Koyano error in the eighth inning allowed the go-ahead run to score, giving the Eagles their first franchise sweep at Sapporo Dome and their longest winning streak since September, 2009.

Darvish (15-4) was a very hard-luck loser, taking the loss despite fanning a career-high-tying 15 in his third complete-game loss this year, 19th of his career. It was the righty’s 48th double-digit strikeout game, moving him into a tie with SoftBank’s Toshiya Sugiuchi for fifth most all-time.

The Eagles took the lead in the third inning on an RBI groundout by Takeshi Nakamura after singles by Fuminori Yokogawa and Luis Garcia.

Yuji Iiyama’s sac fly tied it in the third but the Fighters were unable to come up with the big hit to take the lead.

Hiroki Yamamura (1-0) became the second hurler this season and the 16th overall to earn a win while throwing one pitch.

The second-place Fighters fell five games behind the SoftBank Hawks.

HAWKS 1, MARINES 0

Shota Oba (6-0) stayed perfect in six decisions, working 6.2 scoreless innings, and SoftBank improved to 19-0 in games in which Nobuhiro Matsu homers in a win over visiting Lotte.

Oba scattered five hits and two walks with six Ks, and Brian Falkenborg allowed two hits in the ninth before picking up his 15th save. It was SoftBank’s 21st shutout and it moved a season-high 33 games over .500.

BUFFALOES 2, LIONS 0

Shinya Nakayama (4-7) fired 6.2 scoreless innings, and Orix took advantage of an error to edge Seibu and snap its skid at seven games.

The Buffaloes got a run on a throwing error by Hideaki Wakui (5-10) in the fourth and an RBI single in the eighth to top last-place Seibu.

CENTRAL LEAGUE

DRAGONS 5, SWALLOWS 3

Ryosuke Hirata entered as a pinch-hitter in the sixth inning and blasted Chunichi to a one-run lead with a three-run homer, and added a solo shot in the eighth as the Dragons came back to beat host Yakult and earn skipper Hiromitsu Ochiai’s 600th career win.

Lefty Enyelbert Soto (5-0) tossed five innings to win his fifth straight decision, a record for first-year imports in the CL.

CARP 11, BAYSTARS 1

Yoshihiro Maru had four hits and his first six-RBI game, and Yuya Fukui (6-6) became the first rookie pitcher to toss a complete game for Hiroshima since 1997 in a win over Yokohama at The Zoom.

GIANTS 3, TIGERS 3

Tomoaki Kanemoto’s RBI single in the eighth evened things as Hanshin and Yomiuri played a tie at Tokyo Dome.