Yu Darvish and Hisashi Iwakuma pitched well in the preseason opener for both the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters and the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles on Saturday, three weeks before their Opening Day starts.
Darvish struck out three and allowed two runs in five innings in Nippon Ham's 7-2 rout of Rakuten at Nago Stadium. Iwakuma worked three scoreless innings.
Backup outfielder Takayuki Takaguchi had a bases-loaded triple among his three hits for Nippon Ham.
Hawks 2, Carp 1
At Fukuoka's Yahoo Dome, Softbank left-hander Toshiya Sugiuchi struck out seven, including six straight, in four innings. Newly acquired South Korean infielder Lee Bum Ho hit a walk-off single with two outs in the ninth.
Soichiro Amaya singled in the sole run for Hiroshima, whose batters have struck out 24 times in the past two games.
Giants 4, Lions 3
At Kagoshima, rookie Yomiuri outfielder Hisayoshi Chono went 2-for-3 with an RBI. Tetsuya Yamaguchi, who is preparing himself as a starter, worked three effective innings for the Giants.
Saitama Seibu right-hander Ryoma Nogami, vying for a starter's job, was shaky over three innings, giving up two runs and seven hits.
Dragons 5, Marines 1
At Nagoya Dome, new South Korean slugger Kim Tae Kyun was hitless in four at-bats, while Yoshihisa Naruse, a potential opening day starter for Chiba Lotte, gave up five runs in five innings.
Kazuhiro Wada singled in two runs and Masahiko Morino had two hits for Chunichi at Nagoya Dome.
Elsewhere, the Tokyo Yakult Swallows edged the Yokohama BayStars 1-0, while the Hanshin Tigers routed the Orix Buffaloes 11-1.
