Masahiro Tanaka threw his eighth complete game of the season in a 10-strikeout effort, beating Toshiya Sugiuchi in a pitchers' duel in the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles' 2-1 victory on Saturday over the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks, whose winning streak ended at four games.
Tanaka (12-4) scattered six hits and walked two in a 126-pitch outing. Sugiuchi (7-4) allowed two runs and four hits in eighth innings, striking out nine and walking one.
Akihisa Makida doubled deep to left for the opening run with two outs in the eighth and Ryo Hijirisawa followed with an RBI single to center for a 2-0 lead. Alex Cabrera singled in a run for Softbank in the final frame.