Second-year right-hander Juri Hara outpitched Takahiro Norimoto to lead the Yakult Swallows to a 6-2 interleague win over the Pacific League-leading Rakuten Eagles on Thursday.
Before 23,934 at Jingu Stadium, the 23-year-old Hara (2-3) pitched his first career complete game, holding the Eagles to two runs on four hits. Hara, the Swallows' top draft pick in 2015, struck out six without walking a batter.
Norimoto (8-2) came in looking to extend his record streak of eight consecutive games with 10-plus strikeouts, but only managed eight over seven innings. The 26-year-old Norimoto, a three-time PL strikeout leader, allowed four runs, two earned, on seven hits and a walk.
"I knew the streak was going to end eventually. What's more frustrating is not being able to win it for the team," Norimoto said.
Rakuten's Zelous Wheeler broke the ice in the pitchers' duel in the fourth inning with his 13th home run, a two-out solo shot. But Yuhei Takai, who played his high school ball in the Eagles' hometown of Sendai went 4-for-4 to power the Swallows' comeback.
Takai singled to lead off the fifth, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a Keiji Obiki squeeze. His two-out, two-run double in the sixth broke the tie for good.
It was the second straight win for the Swallows, who entered the day last in the Central League, 16 games out of first place.
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Carp 7, Buffaloes 2
At Mazda Stadium, CL-leading Hiroshima scored five first-inning runs off Brandon Dickson (5-5), and second-year righty Akitake Okada (7-2) allowed two runs in six innings to earn the win over Orix, which lost its fourth straight.
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BayStars 6, Marines 2
At Yokohama Stadium, Jimmy Paredes homered his first two times up for Lotte, reaching the seats in his third straight at-bat, but DeNA overcame a 2-1 deficit on Toshiro Miyazaki's fifth-inning grand slam.
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Tigers 3, Lions 2, 10 innings
At Koshien Stadium, Fumihito Haraguchi hit a clean sayonara single in the 10th inning off Brian Schlitter (0-1) as Hanshin overcame a two-run Ernesto Mejia homer to beat Seibu.
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Fighters 5, Dragons 4
At Nagoya Dome, pinch runner Susumu Orui tagged up and scored on an eighth-inning foul fly to first to break a 3-3 tie, Haruki Nishikawa singled in another run and Nippon Ham held on to beat Chunichi.
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Hawks 7, Giants 3
At Tokyo Dome, Akira Nakamura's sixth-inning RBI single and his seventh-inning RBI double helped SoftBank pull away from Yomiuri and avoid being swept in three games.
