We didn’t have another no-hitter on Wednesday, but only by the slimmest of margins on a night when the Central League won five of six to give it a fighting chance of finishing .500 in interleague this year.

Wednesday’s games

Hawks 1, Tigers 0: At Fukuoka Dome, Nao Higashihama (6-1) worked six scoreless innings, Koya Fujii worked a solid seventh, Katsuki Matayoshi survived an eighth-inning bases-loaded by striking out Yusuke Oyama and Kento Itohara, and Livan Moinelo secured his ninth save.

Akira Nakamura kept the Tigers off the scoreboard in the top of the fourth, his offline throw from right in time to nail Koji Chikamoto at the plate when he tried to score from second on Itohara’s two-out single, allowing the Hawks to open the scoring in their at-bat.

After no-out singles from Taisei Makihara and Yuki Yanagita, Junya Nishi (3-2) hit Yurisbel Gracial and a run came home on a ground out.

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