Kenji Tomura made his season debut count for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles on Sunday in a 2-1 Pacific League win over the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks.
Called on to start at the last minute, Tomura (1-0) worked five-plus scoreless innings. The 29-year-old right-hander allowed four singles and walked three, the last two, with no outs in the sixth, sending him to the showers.
"It was for this kind of thing that I had been preparing," said Tomura, whose career since signing as the Eagles' top draft pick in 2009 has been lackluster. "I got the chance because I was prepared."