Nao Higashihama, who threw a no-hitter last month, was a strike-throwing machine again Wednesday as he pitched the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks to the franchise's 5,500th win, a 6-3 interleague victory over the Yomiuri Giants.
Higashihama (5-1) rarely fell behind in counts and walked none but allowed three solo home runs in his seven innings for the Pacific League leaders.
"My thoughts were all about keeping our opponents scoreless until my teammates scored," Higashihama said. "To that end, I just took it one inning at a time."