Shun Tono came within two outs of his second shutout of the season and flamethrower Marc Kroon sealed the deal as the Yomiuri Giants beat the Chiba Lotte Marines 4-2 on Saturday.
Tono (7-1) allowed two runs on five hits, striking out 12 with four walks and won his seventh straight start. He gave up an RBI single to pinch-hitter Kazuya Fukuura in the ninth.
Kroon took the mound with runners on first and second and walked Toshiaki Imae before yielding an RBI single to Takeshi Kanazawa for Lotte's second run, but he struck out pitch-hitter Shunichi Nemoto and Tsuyoshi Nishioka to end it.