Ace in the hand …

Fighters’ Yoshikawa tosses 2nd shutout, beating Hawks

Mitsuo Yoshikawa is putting together the kind of season that helps everyone in Hokkaido realize why life without Yu Darvish really isn’t so bad.

The southpaw gave up two hits, took over the Pacific League in strikeouts by fanning nine, extended his career-best win total to 13, did the hero interview, made out the next day’s lineup, directed traffic as fans left Sapporo Dome and gave the manager pat on the back and an attaboy after a 1-0 win over the SoftBank Hawks.

At least, he seemed like he that much left-over energy [after the hero interview] on Friday following his second shutout this year. Yoshikawa allowed a single to Yuya Hasegawa in the second inning and a leadoff base hit to Kenta Imamiya in the third.

He walked Toru Hosokawa in the sixth, but picked him off to face the minimum 21 batters after Imamiya’s hit to win his sixth straight decision.

Eiichi Koyano’s second hit of the game decided the outcome. He drove home Yoshi Itoi, who had singled to open the eighth, with two outs for the game’s only run.

EAGLES 7, BUFFALOES 2

Kazuo Matsui had four hits and three RBIs, and Luis Garcia had an RBI single and a scoring fly ball to help Rakuten beat up on Kei Igawa (2-7) and last-place Orix at Kyocera Dome Osaka.

Rookie lefty Wataru Karashima (7-5) held Orix to two runs over 5.2 innings to win it.

LIONS 3, MARINES 2

Jose Ortiz slugged a solo blast in the second, and Takeya Nakamura’s 23rd longball -- a two-run shot in the sixth -- was the difference as Seibu edged Lotte at The Q.

Hideaki Wakui, Seibu's sixth pitcher, worked a perfect ninth for his 23rd save.

CENTRAL LEAGUE

GIANTS 3, TIGERS 2

Hayato Sakamoto crushed a 2-2 fastball from Minoru Iwata (8-12) deep to left for his 13th homer, a three-run shot that made a two-run deficit into a lead as Yomiuri topped Hanshin at Tokyo Dome.

Shinnosuke Abe had three more hits to up his average to .324 to back Toshiya Sugiuchi (12-2), who surrendered five hits and two walks over seven innings

CARP 4, DRAGONS 3

Jun Hirose’s bases-loaded dunker into short right-center field gave host Hiroshima the walk-off victory over Chunichi, halting a three-game skid.

The Carp blew a 3-0 lead [not to mention a certain win for CL ERA leader Kenta Maeda] when they allowed three runs in the eighth, but loaded the bases off Yudai Kawai (3-5) before Hirose delivered his second career sayonara hit.

SWALLOWS 6, BAYSTARS 2

Hiroyasu Tanaka had three hits and an RBI, and Ryosuke Morioka hit his first homer since Sept. 8, 2009, to help Yakult win at Yokohama.

Kyohei Muranaka (9-6) threw 137 pitches over eight innings, scattering nine hits and two walks with six Ks, to overcome homers by Alex Ramirez and Norihiro Nakamura.