Fukuoka SoftBank had one scoring opportunity against Takayuki Kishi, but that was enough as Akira Nakamura singled in a run, Nobuhiro Matsuda homered and the Hawks beat the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 2-0 on Friday night.
Kishi (8-7) allowed four hits and issued an intentional walk, but allowed two runs in the eight-inning, complete-game loss. After retiring the first nine Hawks hitters, he surrendered a fourth-inning leadoff single to Kenji Akashi.
After a sacrifice, Nakamura made a defensive swing on a 1-1 changeup, and bounced it just hard enough to get it through the infield. Kishi needed to issue an intentional walk to get out of the inning, but allowed just two more base runners.