Hisashi Iwakuma seems to have finally arrived for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles.
Iwakuma is in his fourth-year with the club and after a substandard 2005 followed by a pair of injury-plagued seasons, he has regained the form that twice made him a 15-game winner with the Kintetsu Buffaloes.
The veteran hurler has been a force on the mound this season, going 7-2 over his first 10 starts to become the NPB's first seven-game winner this year and equal his win total of the past two seasons combined.