Hirofumi Yamanaka earned his first win of the season on Thursday as the Tokyo Yakult Swallows defeated the Hanshin Tigers 3-1.
In his 10th appearance this year, Yamanaka (1-0) fanned three and allowed an unearned run in 7-1/3 innings, while the Swallows capitalized on three Hanshin errors to scrape out their fifth straight win.
With the game scoreless in the fifth, Tigers starter Hiroto Saiki (4-7) fanned his first batter but yielded a walk to Yuhei Nakamura.