Japanese right-hander Takashi Saito earned his first career win in the major leagues Tuesday after pitching two innings of perfect relief to help the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 2-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs.
Saito (1-0) struck out four of the six batters he faced in relief of starter Derek Low before J.D. Drew hit a two-out single in the bottom of the ninth inning to drive in the winning run for the Dodgers.
Saito, who signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers in the offseason after playing for the Yokohama BayStars the last 14 years, has not allowed a run in 6-2/3 innings in six relief appearance since being called up from Triple-A Las Vegas on April 6.
At Toronto, Hideki Matsui reached a new milestone with his 500th consecutive appearance in major league games but went 0-for-4 to see his average slip below .300 for the first time this season.