Kohei Arihara might have won the game for the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters, but the drinks are on Brandon Laird.
Arihara pitched shutout ball into the seventh, Laird, Shohei Otani and Kensuke Tanaka hit home runs, and the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters beat the Orix Buffaloes 4-0 on Tuesday night at Tokyo Dome.
While Otani was swinging his bat, Arihara (4-0), the team's other young pitching star, was content to do his damage from the mound. Arihara struck out nine over 7 2/3 shutout innings. He allowed five hits, all singles, and walked one.