Yudai Ono pitched the 92nd no-hitter in Japanese pro baseball history Saturday, striking out nine and walking one in the Chunichi Dragons' 3-0 Central League win over the Hanshin Tigers.

The 30-year-old lefty's gem comes eight days after Kodai Senga threw his first career no-hitter for the Pacific League's SoftBank Hawks on Sept. 6. It was the Dragons' first "no-no" since Daisuke Yamai no-hit the DeNA BayStars on June 28, 2013.

With two outs in the ninth, it looked like rookie Koji Chikamoto would spoil Ono's bid, when he hit a low liner toward left, but Dragons third baseman Shuhei Takahashi speared it for the final out causing Ono (9-8) to leap in the air repeatedly on the mound and pump his fists wildly.

"It's unbelievable," Ono said. "Through five innings, I just pitched in the firm belief they would get a hit. Because the fans yelled my name as I took the mound in the ninth, I did my best to go for it."

"I thought that ball might go through, but well Shuhei was there and that was that. I might have overdone it on the mound I guess, but this is a once in a lifetime achievement, and I was expressing my happiness."

The Tigers did not get a runner on base until Ryutaro Umeno reached after a wide throw from shortstop Yota Kyoda pulled first baseman Dayan Viciedo off the bag with one out in the sixth. Ono also walked a batter with one out in the seventh.

"I was wondering when the hit would come, and I thought that Kyoda's play was going to be the one," Ono said, referring to the close play at first which was reviewed by the umpires.

"While they were replaying it, I was set to go back to attacking batters like usual (without worrying about a hit). When they ruled it an error, I changed my mindset back (to thinking about a no-hitter)."

Ono also walked a batter with one out in the seventh, but that was it in his 126-pitch outing before a good crowd of 36,092.

Chunichi opened the scoring against Atsushi Mochizuki (1-1) in the second, when Viciedo reached with a leadoff double off the wall and scored from third on a wild pitch.

Ono contributed to the second run, with a bunt single after catcher Takuma Kato reached on an error. A hit batsman loaded the bases, and Nobumasa Fukuda made it 2-0 with a sacrifice fly.

Fukuda and Viciedo made it 3-0 in the fifth. Fukuda drew a two-out walk, went to second on a wild pitch and scored on Viciedo's second double.

The no-hitter comes two days shy of the 13th anniversary of the last time the Tigers were no-hit at Nagoya Dome by Masahiro Yamamoto on Sept. 16, 2006.

Elsewhere in the Central League, Seiya Suzuki homered, doubled and drove in two runs, while Takayoshi Noma doubled and scored the go-ahead run in the 10th inning, as the Hiroshima Carp won 6-5 against the Yomiuri Giants, who used eight pitchers in a "bullpen day."

At Yokohama Stadium, Taiga Kamichatani (7-6) allowed a run over five innings as the DeNA BayStars beat the Yakult Swallows 7-4. Swallows second baseman Tetsuto Yamada was caught stealing after a record 38 successful attempts dating back to Aug. 22, 2018. The safe call on the field was overturned after a video review.

In the Pacific League, Ernesto Mejia's one-out, 10th-inning RBI double lifted the Seibu Lions to a 4-3 win at MetLife Dome after the Lotte Marines tied it with two runs in the ninth inning off closer Tatsushi Masuda.

At Sapporo Dome, Yurisbel Gracial singled in the go-ahead run in the fifth inning as the SoftBank Hawks protected their slim PL lead over Seibu by beating Kohei Arihara (14-8) and the Nippon Ham Fighters 3-1.

At Kyocera Dome, Yuma Mune drove in three runs, and Brandon Dickson pitched out of a two-on, one-out jam in the ninth to earn his 16th save as the Orix Buffaloes beat the Rakuten Eagles 3-2 to snap a nine-game losing streak.