Tetsuya Utsumi only allowed a double in three shutout innings as the Yomiuri Giants blanked the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters 3-0 in a preseason game Thursday.
Yushi Aida, who relieved Utsumi, pitched three perfect innings, and two other young Giants pitchers continued to hold Nippon Ham scoreless at Sapporo Dome.
Former Colorado Rockies player Luis Gonzalez put Yomiuri on the board with a first-inning sacrifice fly, and Shinnosuke Abe homered off Yu Darvish in the second.
At Yahoo Dome, lefty Yasushi Kamiuchi struck out eight over five innings while allowing two singles and walking none as Softbank beat Chunichi 2-0.