Baseball: Hawks' Kohei Arihara blanks old team Fighters in close win
Former Fighter and Texas Ranger Arihara (5-5) had a runner on third in the second, fifth and eighth innings at Tokyo Dome, but kept his old team at bay for his first shutout win of the year allowing just one walk.
The right-hander, who decided to join the Hawks in 2023 instead of returning to the Fighters after two seasons with the Rangers, has now won against all 12 current Nippon Professional Baseball teams.
Fighters starter Koki Kitayama (5-3), who had a no-hitter bid ended in the ninth in his last outing on June 19, also allowed six hits, fanned five and walked two over eight innings. He allowed his only run in the sixth on Akira Nakamura's sacrifice fly.
In other action, the DeNA BayStars snapped their four-game losing skid by beating the Chunichi Dragons 3-2 in the Central League.
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