Yu Darvish pitched his first shutout of the season as the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters edged the Chiba Lotte Marines 1-0 to snap a six-game losing streak in the Pacific League on Thursday.
Brian Buchanan of the Softbank Hawks is congratulated by manager Sadaharu Oh after hitting a game-ending RBI single in the bottom of the ninth inning on Thursday at Yahoo Dome. The Hawks beat the Seibu Lions 3-2.
KYODO PHOTODarvish (3-1) allowed two singles and two walks with eight strikeouts at Sapporo Dome, winning a duel with Naoyuki Shimizu (0-4), who also gave up only two hits in a complete-game effort. Lotte's winning streak ended at five. The only scare for Darvish came in the third inning, when he allowed a leadoff walk to Benny Agbayani and Tasuku Hashimoto followed with a single, putting runners on the corners with no outs.
But the 20-year-old right-hander retired the side with three groundouts.