Fighters lefty Mitsuo Yoshikawa threw an obstacle in the path of the Giants' march toward the interleague title on Thursday.
Yoshikawa (7-2) allowed a run in seven innings and Hokkaido Nippon Ham wore out right-hander Hirokazu Sawamura (4-7) to send Yomiuri to a 5-1 defeat at Sapporo Dome. The Giants' magic number to clinch the interleague championship was still reduced from two to one, however, when the Chiba Lotte Marines lost to the Hiroshima Carp.
The Giants got a first-inning run on a leadoff walk and a two-out double by cleanup man Shuichi Murata, but Yoshikawa, who was ejected in his last start in Sapporo for hitting a batter in the head, held the visitors in check for the next six innings.