Roki Sasaki picked up his first win of the season after striking out nine in seven innings in the Lotte Marines' 5-2 victory over the Orix Buffaloes on Sunday.
Sasaki (1-0) allowed Orix to take leads of 1-0 and 2-1 in the first two innings but composed himself to retire 14 in a row after hitting a batter with one out in the third at Zozo Marine Stadium.
Lotte turned the game around with a four-run fourth that opened with four straight hits from the bottom of the order, three of them doubles.
Sasaki held the Buffaloes to three hits while walking two in a 111-pitch outing.
"I was able to pitch comfortably after I got plenty of run support," the 22-year-old right-hander said in a postgame interview. "I didn't change anything in particular (after the first two innings)."
"I've wanted to contribute to the team by pitching as many innings as possible, especially like today when I gave up runs early...My velocity is down recently, and I am not getting tired. My fastball hasn't even touched 160 kilometers (99.4 miles) per hour."
Rikuto Yokoyama, Lotte's third pitcher, earned his second save. Orix starter Ryuhei Sotani (0-1) gave up four runs in three-plus innings.
Among Sunday's other games, Daichi Suzuki hit a walk-off double to give the Rakuten Eagles a 3-2 win over the SoftBank Hawks.
Humberto Mejia (1-1) threw seven dominant innings as the Chunichi Dragons beat the Hiroshima Carp 1-0, shutting out the home team throughout their three-game series.
