Kenta Maeda took a no-hitter into the eighth inning and earned his first career win with eight shutout innings as the Hiroshima Carp beat the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters 2-1 on Wednesday.
Maeda (1-0) did not give up a hit until Naoto Inada singled to left leading off the eighth in interleague play at Hiroshima Stadium. The right-hander allowed two hits, walked three and struck out four.
Hiroshima took a 2-0 lead on a balk by Kazuhito Tadano (3-1) in the first and a Soichiro Amaya homer in the fifth.