Yohander Mendez enjoyed a night of firsts at Tokyo Dome.

He swung at a fastball in the fourth inning against the Seibu Lions and got his first career NPB hit. He finished the night by celebrating his first win in Japan.

Mendez made a winning return from a right bicep injury, Yoshihiro Maru crushed a solo home run, and the Yomiuri Giants remained tied at the top of the interleague standings with a 3-0 win over the Seibu Lions in front of a crowd of 40,745 at the Big Egg on Tuesday night.

Mendez pitched on the top team for the first time since suffering the injury on April 12.

"I did my best to rehab the past two months, and the result was today's win," Mendez said. "I achieved one of my goals."

He held the Lions to four singles, walked two and struck out six. He said a strategy session with catcher Takumi Oshiro before the game played a role in his performance.

"We talked about various things, and thanks to that, I was able to pitch well," he said. "Also the defense, the other players protected the lead. It was a really good game. Not only for me but the whole team."

The Giants earned their third straight win and improved to 8-5 in interleague play. Yomiuri is tied with the DeNA BayStars at the top of the interleague standings. The Lions are in last place at 5-8.

Kazuma Okamoto gave Mendez the lead with an RBI double in the third, and Maru went deep to straightaway center to start the fourth. Oshiro laid down a squeeze bunt to add to the lead in the fifth.

Relievers Yuhei Takanashi and Tyler Beede protected the advantage, and Taisei Ota worked the ninth for his 13th save of the season and the 50th of his career.

Maru's solo blast was his ninth home run of the season and his fourth in the past four games.

Takayuki Kajitani and Yuto Akihiro each had two-hit nights for the Kyojin. Akihiro also had a pair of walks to reach base four times. He raised his batting average to .331 in 42 games.

The Lions' Shuta Tonosaki matched Akihiro's output in his four plate appearances.

Wataru Matsumoto allowed three runs on seven hits and walked four in the loss. Matsumoto finished with six strikeouts.

The Lions attempted to rally in the bottom of the eighth.

Pinch hitter Yuji Kaneko drew a walk to begin the frame, and Sosuke Genda doubled to put runners on second and third. Tonosaki drew a walk after Shohei Suzuki was retired to load the bases.

Beede, though, got No. 4 batter David MacKinnon to hit into a double play and celebrated with a fist pump after putting out the fire.