Kohei Arihara threw four-hit ball over eight innings behind a strong defense on Tuesday as the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters opened a three-game series against the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles with a 13-1 win.
The Fighters starter fanned seven at Rakuten Seimei Park Miyagi while holding the home team to a run, and picked up a Pacific League-leading fifth win for his efforts.
His opponent, Yoshinao Kamata (1-1), was solid through six innings but little offensive support and late bullpen trouble resulted in the right-hander's first loss of the season.