Hiroshi Urano threw six scoreless innings to pace the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters to a 4-0 win over the Chiba Lotte Marines on Saturday.
It was the Fighters' fifth consecutive victory.
The right-hander struck out seven, while allowing two hits and one walk to improve to 3-1. Pitching in manager Hideki Kuriyama's novel starting pitching setup, Urano is the first starter other than staff ace Kohei Arihara to go six innings since June 18.