Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks southpaw Tsuyoshi Wada held the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters hitless through the sixth inning in an 8-3 Pacific League victory on Saturday.
The 39-year-old's mixed up his low-velocity fastball with his changeup, slider and an occasional curve to keep the Fighters completely off balance, while his teammates fashioned an early five-run lead.
"I felt good from the start and got good results. Last time I got a big lead, too, but I squandered it. I wanted to do better this time, said Wada (1-0), whose last win was in Game 4 of the 2019 Game Series, when SoftBank clinched its fifth Japan championship in six years.