Eagles on Aug. 18, 2021, at Rakuten Seimei Park Miyagi in Sendai, northeastern Japan. (Kyodo)The SoftBank Hawks' Kodai Senga pitches during a Pacific League game against the Rakuten Eagles on Aug. 18, 2021, at Rakuten Seimei Park Miyagi in Sendai, northeastern Japan. (Kyodo)

       SENDAI (Kyodo) -- Kodai Senga's troubled season looked to be turning around on Wednesday, as he went six innings in the SoftBank Hawks' 3-0 Pacific League win over the Rakuten Eagles.

       Senga (2-1) was named to Japan's Olympic team despite being hurt most of the season. The win was his first since he hurt his ankle in his April season debut. Four relievers finished up as SoftBank's pitchers set a franchise record by throwing 42 consecutive scoreless innings.

       "It's been a long time since I was able to flip the right switch," said Senga, who allowed two hits, issued one walk and hit a batter while striking out six at Sendai's Rakuten Seimei Park Miyagi.

       The Hawks opened the scoring in the first through two of Senga's gold medal-winning Olympic teammates. Yuki Yanagita singled with two outs off rookie lefty Takahisa Hayakawa (7-4) and scored on Ryoya Kurihara's double. Alfredo Despaigne singled to make it 2-0.

       Yanagita singled in a run in the second to make it 3-0.

       Sho Iwasaki, the Hawks' fifth pitcher, struck out two batters in a 1-2-3 ninth to earn his sixth save.

       The third-place Hawks moved to within one game of the second-place Eagles, who are 2-1/2 games back of the first-place Orix Buffaloes.

       At Hotto Motto Field Kobe, Ryoichi Adachi doubled in the tie-breaking run and Masataka Yoshida iced the game with a two-run home run, his 19th, as the Buffaloes beat the Nippon Ham Fighters 5-2.

       At Chiba's Zozo Marine Stadium, Kazuya Ojima (6-3) allowed two runs over six innings in the Lotte Marines' 5-3 win over the Seibu Lions.

       At Tokyo Dome, rookie Masashi Ito (6-5) allowed two runs over eight innings as the Hanshin Tigers came from behind to beat the DeNA BayStars 5-2 and maintain their two-game Central League lead over the Yomiuri Giants.

       At Matsuyama Botchan Stadium, Hiroyuki Nakajima singled in two seventh inning runs to bring the Giants from behind in a 3-2 win over the Yakult Swallows.

       At Vantelin Dome Nagoya, Takahiro Matsuba (2-2) allowed one hit over 5-2/3 innings and four relievers completed the Chunichi Dragons' one-hit shutout, a 3-0 victory over the Hiroshima Carp.

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