Shuta Ishikawa of the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks threw his first career no-hitter Friday in an 8-0 Pacific League win over the Seibu Lions.
At Fukuoka's PayPay Dome, Ishikawa (4-5) struck out eight, walked three and hit a batter in Japanese pro baseball's 99th regular-season no-hit shutout and the first of the 2023 season.
"I didn't think I would be able to achieve this," Ishikawa said. "But I had some luck and the fielders got the outs, and I'm grateful to them."
The Hawks took a five-run second-inning lead against Seibu's Kaima Taira (7-6), who allowed seven runs over four innings.
With a big lead, Ishikawa cruised through the first three innings, and caught some breaks in the fourth before third baseman Ryoya Kurihara kept the no-hit bid alive with a pair of solid plays in the seventh.
Tatsuru Yanagimachi singled in SoftBank's first run, and Yuki Yanagita capped the second-inning rally with an RBI single. Kurihara homered in the third, and singled in another run in the fourth.
Yanagita put the icing on the Hawks' offensive cake in the sixth with 16th home run of the season, and the 1,500th hit of his career.
Veteran Lions slugger Takeya Nakamura, who twice came close to getting a hit, hit a tricky grounder to first for the final out.
"Every time I take to the mound, I think about a no-hitter and then give up a hit in the first inning," Ishikawa said. "As a result, I tend to just think about one batter after the next. So at the end, I was like that, and maybe not that conscious of it being a no-hitter."