Shota Suekane belted a two-run home run and Allen Kuri made the most of the run support, pitching seven innings in the Hiroshima Carp's 3-1 interleague win over the Nippon Ham Fighters on Thursday.
The Carp got to work early at Hiroshima's Mazda Stadium, with Shogo Akiyama singling and scoring on Suekane's fifth home run. Akiyama's sacrifice fly made it 3-0 in the second, and Kuri (2-4) ran with the lead.
"The early runs made it easy to pitch," Kuri said. "The defense made the plays behind me, and that helped me settle into a good rhythm."
Kuri allowed four hits but no walks as he held the Pacific Leaguers to a single seventh-inning run. Carp closer Ryoji Kuribayashi recorded his 16th save.
In other interleague action Thursday, the Rakuten Eagles completed a three-game sweep of the defending Central League champion Hanshin Tigers with a 4-1 victory. The Eagles have the best interleague record, 7-2, while the Tigers' 1-7 is the worst.
