Shoki Murakami worked six innings for the Hanshin Tiger as the Central League leaders hammered the Yomiuri Giants 8-1 Friday.
The rookie right-hander allowed an unearned run on three hits and two walks while striking out nine at Tokyo Dome to improve to 8-5.
"I did a good job of working carefully low in the zone tonight," Murakami said. "I've become able to execute my pitches even when things are troubling me."
The Giants opposed Murakami with right-hander Shosei Togo (10-4), who had a tough night at the hands of Hanshin's hitters, allowing six runs on 10 hits and a walk before leaving with one out in the fifth inning.
Another Tigers rookie, outfielder Shota Morishita, plated Koji Chikamoto with a two-run third-inning home run, singled and delivered a sacrifice fly.
Hanshin's Teruaki Sato tripled, doubled, walked, scored twice and drove in two, while Chikamoto homered and scored three runs.
Elsewhere in the CL, the Hiroshima Carp beat the Yakult Swallows 4-3, while the DeNA BayStars won 18-2 over the Chunichi Dragons, whose veteran outfielder Yohei Oshima moved to within one hit of 2,000 in his career.
In the Pacific League, the two-time defending champion and league-leading Orix Buffaloes won their seventh straight, 4-3 over the Lotte Marines, the Seibu Lions shut out the Nippon Ham Fighters 5-0, and the Rakuten Eagles walked off 3-2 winners in 10 innings over the SoftBank Hawks.
