Yosuke Takasu hit an RBI double in the first inning and Rui Makino pitched seven shutout innings Friday as the Tohoku Rakuten Eagles blanked the Seibu Lions 1-0 to end their winless streak at four games.
Seibu missed a chance to regain the Pacific League lead and instead fell one game behind the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters, who did not have a game Friday and whose magic number for ending the regular season in first place is four with four games remaining.
Makino (2-0) allowed six hits, struck out five and walked one. Kazuo Fukumori threw two hitless innings for his 19th save.
CENTRAL LEAGUE
Dragons 9, Swallows 1
At Jingu Stadium, Tyrone Woods went 3-for-5 with a grand slam and Kenshin Kawakami threw seven solid innings as Chunichi trounced Tokyo Yakult to reduce its magic number for winning the division to 12.
Carp 1, BayStars 0
At Hiroshima Stadium, Shinji Sasaoka, John Bale and Katsuhiro Nagakawa combined on a six-hit shutout as Hiroshima edged Yokohama.