Kenta Maeda pitched one-run ball, holding the mighty Yomiuri Giants bats in check with a nasty slider and fastball on Friday as the Hiroshima Carp pulled off a 4-1 victory.
Maeda (12-5) scattered seven hits, struck out three and walked one against the Central League frontrunners at Tokyo Dome. Takayuki Oshima closed out the ninth for his third save.
Tetsuya Matsumoto tied the game at 1-1 with an RBI single in the third but Soichiro Amaya and Shigenobu Shima hit back-to-back homers off Wirfin Obispo (2-3) to give Hiroshima a 3-1 lead in the sixth. Yomiuri has lost three games against Maeda this season.