Roki Sasaki returned from a 14-day layoff to strike out nine over six innings in the Lotte Marines' 3-1 win over the Hiroshima Carp on Saturday.
Sasaki (5-2), who was deactivated after failing to recover quickly enough from his last start on May 24, was making his first interleague start of the season, at Hiroshima's Mazda Stadium. He allowed an unearned run on a hit batsman and three singles.
The pitcher was charged with an error that allowed the Carp's lone run to score in the second inning, but the Marines took the lead on a two-run fifth-inning error by the hosts and tacked on another run on catcher Toshiya Sato's sixth-inning RBI single.
Without a designated hitter in the Central League parks, Sasaki went 0-for-3 in his first plate appearances this season as a hitter.
"Because I batted today, it reaffirmed to me just how skilled position players are (at hitting)," Sasaki said.
Three Marines relievers held Hiroshima to two walks over three innings with Naoya Masuda working a 1-2-3 ninth for his ninth save.
Among other interleague games Saturday, Jeremy Beasley (3-0) threw his first complete game in Japan in the Hanshin Tigers' 4-1 win over the Pacific League's struggling Seibu Lions, who fell to their sixth straight defeat.
The SoftBank Hawks' Carter Stewart Jr. threw six shutout innings but did not get a decision in his team's 5-3 win over the CL's DeNA BayStars.
