Shohei Otani brought all his weapons to bear in a three-hitter on Wednesday as the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters snapped a five-game losing streak with a 7-0 win over the Chiba Lotte Marines.
Otani, whose fastball frequently approached 160 kph, had excellent command with his curve, slider and splitter to make life extremely difficult for Marines hitters. The right-hander struck out 11 and walked two in a 127-pitch effort to notch his second shutout of the season and improve to 9-1.
"He had just 11 strikeouts? It seemed like more than that," Marines manager Tsutomu Ito said after Otani beat his club for the first time in his career. "It was like he was toying with us.