Baseball: Fighters beat Eagles on Gunji's homer, Kanemura's shutout
SENDAI (Kyodo) -- Yuya Gunji hit a solo home run in the top of the second and Shoma Kanemura pitched a complete-game shutout to give the Nippon Ham Fighters a 1-0 win against the Rakuten Eagles in Pacific League baseball on Friday.
Kanemura (4-2) scattered five hits and a walk while striking out six in his 104-pitch outing at Rakuten Mobile Park Miyagi.
Leading off the second inning, starting catcher Gunji sent his first pitch from Takahisa Hayakawa, a 145 kilometer-per-hour fastball, just inside the left-field foul pole.
The go-ahead blast continued a run of improved form following a nine-game hitless streak that ended with an ice-breaking RBI against the Orix Buffaloes on May 15.
"Things have gotten better since that at-bat," said Gunji, whose ability to play multiple positions has made him indispensable on defense for the PL leaders.
Hayakawa (1-5) struck out nine and allowed four hits and a walk over seven innings. Rakuten slugger Hideto Asamura closed to within one hit of 2,000 for his career after going 1-for-3 with a single in the second.
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