Yoshinobu Yamamoto worked seven innings Tuesday to win his 11th game of the season in the Pacific League-leading Orix Buffaloes' 2-0 win over the Lotte Marines.
Yamamoto allowed four hits and walked two while striking out just four at Zozo Marine Stadium east of Tokyo.
Winner of the Sawamura Award as Japan's most impressive starting pitcher the past two seasons, Yamamoto improved to 11-4, although his evening was not without a scare.
First-inning doubles by Ryo Ota and Keita Nakagawa made it 1-0 against Lotte's Luis Castillo (2-3). Tomoya Mori drove in a third-inning insurance run with a routine fly to center that got lost in the lights for an RBI triple.
"After getting a first-inning lead, I wanted to have a good tempo with my pitching, but I had to struggle a little and got out of a jam thanks to some good luck," Yamamoto said.
That luck came in the fifth with one out and runners on the corners. Golden Glove-winning third baseman Yuma Mune made an acrobatic catch of a line drive headed for the left-field corner and doubled off the runner at third.
"I'm indebted to him for that," Yamamoto said.
Yoshihisa Hirano worked the ninth for the Buffaloes and recorded his 18th save.
Elsewhere, Kona Takahashi (9-6) allowed two runs over eight innings to pitch the Seibu Lions past the Nippon Ham Fighters 6-3, and five ninth-inning runs turned the Rakuten Eagles' narrow lead over the SoftBank Hawks into a 9-3 rout.
In the Central League, the DeNA BayStars overcame a four-run first-inning deficit to beat the Chunichi Dragons 7-4, the Yakult Swallows came back from three runs down in a 5-4 win over the Hiroshima Carp, and the league-leading Hanshin Tigers held off the Yomiuri Giants 7-6.
