Tetsuya Utsumi pitched his first complete game of the season, Hayato Sakamoto went 3-for-4 with three RBIs, and the Yomiuri Giants walloped the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks 11-3 in the two teams' last interleague game on Sunday afternoon.
Utsumi (5-3) yielded three runs, two of them in the ninth, while allowing 10 hits. He struck out five and walked one. The lefty won his first decision since May 12 and the 100th of his career in his 10th year in pro baseball. Hiroki Yamada (3-3) was chased after yielding five runs in 1⅔ innings for Softbank.
"I took the mound today with the feeling I was on the edge of a cliff. I feel relieved," said Utsumi, who felt the weight lifted off his shoulders after Yomiuri jumped out to a 6-1 lead through the first two innings. "I wanted to win badly today and I was really attacking the strike zone."