Hisashi Iwakuma outpitched Yu Darvish with a two-hit shutout as the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles beat the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters 3-0 on Saturday.
Iwakuma (3-2) did not allow a runner to reach third base and retired 15 straight batters in one stretch at Kleenex Stadium. He struck out six and walked one en route to winning his third straight start.
"Darvish was on the mound for them. I knew it would be a pitching duel," Iwakuma said. "I tried not to allow them to score first. I gave it my all and had one of my best outings."
Teppei Tsuchiya scored the opening run in the second inning when Darvish (3-2) made an errant throw home on a one-out slow roller off the bat of Norihiro Nakamura.