The Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles stretched their Pacific League lead to four games on Saturday as right-hander Kenji Tomura worked eight innings in an 8-1 victory over the second-place Chiba Lotte Marines.
Tomura (4-1) missed a shot at his first career complete game when he did not come out to pitch the ninth following a delay to repair the rain-soaked mound at Kleenex Stadium.
"In this kind of weather, I worked to get ahead in counts and establish a quick tempo," said Tomura, who gave up six hits and walked three, while striking out two.