Not so easy …

Lions come up short, fall to Eagles

The Yomiuri Giants are laughing and joking as they head toward the Central League finish line. The Pacific League won’t be easy.

The Seibu Lions experienced that up close and personal on Friday, falling to the Rakuten Eagles 1-0 at The Kleenex Box as third-year lefty Wataru Karashima (6-5) fired seven shutout innings to help beat them.

The front-running Lions could only muster two hits and three walks off Karashima, but loaded the bases off Rakuten closer Koji Aoyama before Esteban German’s popout to right ended the game.

Meanwhile, the Eagles could have been cited for littering, putting 12 runners on base but only plating one. That came when Kazuya Fujita singled home Hiroaki Shimauchi with one out in the fifth.

Both teams were sharp defensively, with Shogo Akiyama making a great play in center field, leaping at the wall to snag a drive by Akihisa Makida in the fourth.

FIGHTERS 2, BUFFALOES 1

Lefty Mitsuo Yoshikawa (12-4) fanned a career 13 in a five-hit gem that carried Nippon Ham past visiting Orix.

Sho Nakata’s first-inning, two-run homer [his 19th] was enough for Yoshikawa, who walked one in his fourth career complete game [third this season] and took over the PL lead in ERA at 1.76.

HAWKS 4, MARINES 1

Tomoaki Egawa homered, tripled and had two singles to drive in a pair of runs, and Kenji Akashi and Hitoshi Tamura knocked in a run each as SoftBank topped visiting Lotte.

Nagisa Arakaki (6-3) went seven innings [yielding one run on two hits and two walks] for his first win since June 13 [his first start since June 30] as the Hawks won in their Kermit The Frog uniforms.

CENTRAL LEAGUE

DRAGONS 1, TIGERS 0

Masahiko Morino cracked his fifth homer, a solo blast in the fifth, and Yudai Ono (5-2) held Hanshin to three hits over seven innings [and watched a nervy 10th save by Daisuke Yamai] as Chunichi won at Nagoya Dome.

It was the 10th 1-0 win this season for Dragons, while the Tigers suffered their 18th shutout loss and fell in their eighth straight decision at Nagoya Dome.

BAYSTARS 1, CARP 0

Third-year righty Yuki Kuniyoshi “The Darvish of Yokohama” finally looked the part, firing his first shutout, a three-hitter, to beat Hiroshima at The Zoom.

Takayuki Kajitani’s triple in the fourth plated Alex Ramirez for the game’s only run, which Kuniyoshi [four Ks, three walks, just 92 pitches] made stand up by not allowing a hit after the fifth.

GIANTS 8, SWALLOWS 2

Hayato Sakamoto had three hits and an RBI, and Shinnosuke Abe had two RBI singles to move back in the CL batting lead as Yomiuri romped past Yakult at Jingu Stadium.

Seven players knocked in runs for the Giants, who moved a season-high 36 games over .500. Abe’s 83 RBIs also lead the CL.