Takumi Akiyama went the distance and Yoshio Itoi opened the scoring in the Hanshin Tigers' 7-1 victory over the Yokohama BayStars on Tuesday.
Akiyama (2-3) did not issue a walk and limited the visitors to six hits, while striking out nine in his 107-pitch effort at Koshien Stadium.
The right-hander started off by retiring the first five batters he faced before giving up a hit in the second inning. However, he bounced back and recorded 1-2-3 innings in the third and fourth.