Rick van den Hurk took a no-hitter into the eighth inning and Wladimir Balentien homered twice to lead the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks to a 4-2 win over the defending Pacific League champion Saitama Seibu Lions on Thursday.
Balentien, who joined the Hawks this season after nine years with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, hit solo homers off Keisuke Honda (0-1) in the second and fourth. Keizo Kawashima homered to open the sixth off rookie reliever Shota Hamaya.
Van den Hurk (1-0) struck out seven and walked one. He allowed two runs on two hits after two-time PL home run king Hotaka Yamakawa reached on an infield single to open the eighth. Takeya Nakamura doubled and van den Hurk was pulled after the Lions scored on a ground out.