In his long-waited return from shoulder fatigue, Yu Darvish threw one-run ball over eight innings to lead the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters to a 3-1 win over the Chiba Lotte Marines in snapping a six-game losing streak on Sunday.
Darvish (15-5), who made his first start since Aug. 21, scattered six hits, struck out five and walked none to become the first 15-game winner this season in Japan.
"I knew I had to be the one to stop the losing streak," Darvish said. "I believe we can eventually drop our magic number to zero with a team effort. I just brought the team momentum, so we'll be fine from here."
Hisashi Takeda pitched the ninth for his Pacific League-leading 30th save.
Hawks 2, Eagles 1
At Fukuoka's Yahoo Dome, Munenori Kawasaki singled in the game-ending run and Toshiya Sugiuchi pitched one-run ball for his fifth complete game of the season as Fukuoka Softbank beat Tohoku Rakuten to end its four-game losing skid.
Sugiuchi (15-3) allowed three hits and struck out 11 to match Darvish for the most wins in the PL.
Lions 10, Buffaloes 8
At Seibu Dome, Hiroyuki Nakajima and Takeya Nakamura each homered twice and combined for five RBIs as Saitama Seibu beat Orix.
CENTRAL LEAGUE
Giants 4, Carp 2
At Mazda Stadium, Hisanori Takahashi limited the damage to two runs in five innings, Alex Ramirez hit a two-run homer and Yomiuri beat Hiroshima.
Dragons 7, Swallows 2
At Nagoya Dome, Kazuhiro Wada and Kazuki Inoue drove in two runs apiece and Kenichi Nakata pitched two-run ball over six innings as Chunichi romped over Tokyo Yakult.
Tigers 2, BayStars 1
At Koshien Stadium, Tsuyoshi Shimoyanagi pitched one-run ball over six innings and combined with two relievers on a three-hitter as Hanshin defeated Yokohama to move into third place for the first time since May 15.
