With all of Nao Higashihama's pitches working, the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles simply didn't have a chance in Thursday afternoon's 5-1 defeat to the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks.
Matched up against top veteran Takayuki Kishi, Higashihama put on a pitching clinic with flawless command of his breaking pitches and mixing those in with his fastball, cutter and changeup to keep the Eagles guessing.
Higashihama (10-3) allowed a run on five hits and a walk over 7-1/3 innings, while striking out two and getting one hitter after another to ground into an out at Kobo Park Miyagi.