Veteran southpaw Masahiro Yamamoto won his season debut as the Chunichi Dragons defeated the Hanshin Tigers 4-1 on Saturday.
The 44-year-old Yamamoto (1-0) allowed one run and four hits in six innings. Naomichi Donoue hit a two-run homer off Tsuyoshi Shimoyanagi (6-6) to push Chunichi's lead to 3-0 in the fourth.
Hitoki Iwase pitched the ninth to become the first pitcher in Japanese baseball history to reach 30 saves for six straight seasons.