NAGOYA (Interstat) — Spencer Howard allowed two hits over six scoreless innings and Raito Nakayama drove in the only run with a two-out single in the fourth as the Yomiuri Giants defeated the Chunichi Dragons 1-0 on Friday night at Nagoya Dome.

Howard struck out eight and walked none to improve to 2-2. Three relievers kept the Dragons off the board, with Raidel Martinez pitching a perfect ninth for his 31st save. Kota Nakagawa and Eito Tanaka each contributed a scoreless inning, with Nakagawa striking out two.

Hiroto Takahashi matched Howard for much of the night, yielding one run on four hits and eight strikeouts over seven innings. He dropped to 2-7. Nakayama’s single to shallow right scored the runner from second for the game’s lone tally.

Yomiuri had five hits, while Chunichi managed three. Jason Vosler singled as a pinch hitter for the Dragons, and Yomiuri’s Takumi Ohshiro singled in three at-bats.

The Giants improved to 56-47-2. The Dragons fell to 45-61. The attendance was 36,686, and the game lasted 2 hours, 46 minutes.