Katsuki Azuma threw a complete game to pick up his Central League-leading 13th win, as the DeNA BayStars beat the Hiroshima Carp 3-1 on Thursday.
Masayuki Kuwahara hit a pair of solo home runs to back the left-hander, breaking a 1-1 tie in the sixth inning off Atsushi Endo (1-5) and going deep again in the eighth at Mazda Stadium.
Azuma (13-2) allowed eight hits but kept the damage to a minimum while walking none and striking out eight. The BayStars snapped their losing streak at three games.
"I'm glad I went the distance," Azuma said. "I wanted to pitch seven innings or more after our relievers had to work a lot in the previous two games."
"We were able to stop the losing streak. We'll try to keep winning after we get back to Yokohama (on Friday)."
In the day's other games, the Yomiuri Giants defeated the Tokyo Yakult Swallows 5-2, and the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks rallied to beat the Lotte Marines 7-3.