And eat it, too …

Saito gives himself royal treatment with birthday victory

Yuki Saito received a cake after winning on his birthday, and he looked pretty happy to be able to eat it, too.

The righty hadn’t won since May 4, but shut down the Hiroshima Carp on Wednesday to win on his 24th birthday, thanks to Kensuke Tanaka’s eighth-inning tiebreaking RBI single for a 2-1 interleague win at Sapporo Dome.

Tanaka’s miscue in the first inning led to Hiroshima’s only run, and the second baseman made up for it by driving home the game-winning run.

“I just tried to limit the damage as much as possible and wait for the offense to come through,” Saito said about the first-inning run. “I believed they would score and they did," he said in the hero interview.

The “Handkerchief Prince” pitched to contact, keeping the defense behind busy with no strikeouts. He walked one and threw just 88 pitches.

He allowed a run in the first inning, in part because Tanaka had Steve Sax disease for one play: he threw wide of the bag at first on a simple roller to second, allowing Masato Akamatsu to reach base. Nick Stavinoha followed with a double to right center, and Akamatsu sped around the bases to score the game’s first run.

Rookie Yusuke Nomura got lifted after seven innings, and his replacement, Hideki Kishimoto (0-2) allowed a run in the eighth on Tanaka’s hard single to right.

Tanaka moved into top spot in the Pacific League in batting at .333.

GIANTS 4, HAWKS 3

Shuichi Murata battled Masahiko Morifuku (0-2) for 10 pitches before sending a tiebreaking sac fly as Yomiuri edged SoftBank at FYJ Dome and moved into the Central League’s top spot with Chunichi’s loss.

Wily Mo Pena’s first longball in 14 games, a two-run shot in the eighth, got SoftBank even. The Pacific League’s fourth-place Hawks have lost eight straight and tumbled four games behind Rakuten, and are just a half-game ahead of Seibu.

EAGLES 8, TIGERS 2

Masahiro Tanaka (3-2) won his first game since returning from lower-back issues, going the distance on 132 pitches -- allowing eight hits and fanning nine while walking -- and Jose Fernandez had four hits and three RBIs as Rakuten beat up on Hanshin at The Kleenex Box.

Teppei Tsuchiya added a two-run triple in a three-run second, and an RBI single in the sixth to back Tanaka, who hadn’t won since April 19.

MARINES 3, BAYSTARS 2

Seth Greisinger (6-1) held Yokohama to an unearned run over 6.2 innings, and Shunichi Nemoto, Tadahito Iguchi and Saburo Omura went back-to-back-to-back with RBI doubles in the fifth as Lotte won at The Q.

Yasuhiko Yabuta allowed a run in the ninth on three two-out hits, but closed it out for his 17th save and Lotte’s fourth straight win.

LIONS 3, DRAGONS 1

Kazuhisa Ishii (5-2) bobbed and weaved through trouble over five innings, and Hiroyuki Nakajima’s third-inning single [his first RBI hit in seven games] was the difference as Seibu topped Chunichi to sweep the two-game series at Seibu Dome.

Ishii allowed four hits and four walks with four Ks, and the bullpen tossed four scoreless innings, Randy Williams putting the tying runs in scoring position before notching his second save and sending Chunichi to its fourth straight loss.

SWALLOWS 4, BUFFALOES 2

Orlando Roman (4-5) held Orix to just an unearned over 6.2 innings, and Kazuki Fukuchi’s two-run double proved to be the difference as Yakult won at Kyocera Dome Osaka

Kazuhiro Hatakeyama homered, his fourth [third in interleague play] and Tony Barnette went 1.1 innings for his 13th save.

*Interleague count
PL 47, CL 41, 7 TIES