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\nHaruki Hosono of the Nippon Ham Fighters pitches during a Pacific League game against the Lotte Marines at Es Con Field Hokkaido on March 31, 2026. (Kyodo) <\/p>\n
\n KITAHIROSHIMA, Japan (Kyodo) — Haruki Hosono became the 91st pitcher in Nippon Professional Baseball to throw a no-hitter Tuesday as he struck out 12 to lead the Nippon Ham Fighters to a 9-0 victory over the Lotte Marines in the Pacific League.
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\n The 24-year-old Hosono (1-0) celebrated his first professional shutout in style, helping the Fighters win for the first time this season after three straight losses, in their first home game of the campaign at Es Con Field Hokkaido east of Sapporo.
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\n “It’s gradually starting to sink in that I’ve done something amazing,” Hosono, the Fighters’ first-round draft pick ahead of the 2024 season, said after he became the first pitcher to hurl a no-hitter at the ballpark, which opened in 2023, in what was also his first complete game.
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\n “It’s hard to say I’ll go for another (no-hitter) next time, but I’ll try to keep pitching looking to put up as many zeros as possible.”
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\n The lefty issued his only walk to start the game before his teammates scored seven runs in the second inning off Marines starter Yuto Kimura (0-1), capped by Kotaro Kiyomiya’s three-run home run and Franmil Reyes’s solo shot.
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\n Hosono hit a batsman in the fourth but struck out the side swinging in the sixth and eighth, while Kiyomiya and Reyes again went deep back-to-back in the seventh.
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\n Hosono’s no-hit bid almost unraveled in the ninth when Marines pinch-hitter Hiromi Oka lined a drive at the pitcher with no outs. But Hosono instinctively touched the ball with his glove and crucially directed the ball to the second baseman for a ground out.
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\n Kiyomiya then failed to pick up a grounder with two outs only for the first baseman to be charged with an error as Hosono’s bid continued. And he struck out the last batter looking to complete a 128-pitch gem.
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\n In other PL action, former big leaguer Kenta Maeda (0-1) was tagged with the loss after allowing two runs over four-plus innings in the Rakuten Eagles’ 4-2 defeat by the SoftBank Hawks, the defending Japan Series and PL champion who won their fourth straight to open the season.
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\n In the Central League, the Yakult Swallows won the clash of unbeatens against the Hiroshima Carp 8-3 for their fourth straight win.
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